PURI acronym – 4 special qualities of Madhavendra Puri

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Jai Jai Jai Jai the verse that I just recited is the invocation of the 4th chapter of the Vardhanila of Chaitanya Charitamrita Shri Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami has adopted a distinctive style in writing Chaitanya Charitamrita every past time every past time that he describes in the Chaitanya Charitamrita is preceded by a starting verse which summarises the past time and which is in Sanskrit unlike the remaining chapter which is in Bengali so in this particular verse he is offering obeisances to Shri Madhavendra Puripada Yasmi Datum Chorin Shir Abhandam Shir Abhanda is what? Bengali is very similar to Hindi or Marathi if you understand Hindi or Marathi then Bengali almost 60-70% you can understand Shir Abhanda is the pot of sweet rice Yasmi Datum to give unto him Chorin that lord became a thief and he stole Yasmi Datum Chorin Shir Abhandam Gopinath that lord Gopinath he became famous as Shir Chora Vidobhut Vidobhut means he became famous as Shir Chora that is the first most famous pastime of Shri Madhavendra Puripada apart from that Shri Gopalah Pradurashi Vashisan Vashisan means being conquered by being conquered by the love of Shri Madhavendra Puri what happened? Shri Gopalah Pradurashi Shri Gopalah Pradurashi means he manifested himself we know that Govardhan Gopal revealed his own location to Shri Madhavendra Puripada Yatprena how was that lord conquered? by the love of Madhavendra Puripada Yatprena tam Madhavendra Lato Lato means chopper that lord Madhavendra Puripada whose love Shri Gopal who was unmanifest became manifest and Gopinath who was manifest became active in stealing for the lord so that Madhavendra Puri’s love is so great therefore that Madhavendra Puri I offer my obeisances so Shri Madhavendra Puri has a very unique position in our Gaudiya Sampradaya you know we have to understand that Bhakti is not the monopoly of anyone not even of any Sampradaya there can be great saints who may not be in any Sampradaya because they might have been devotees in the previous Sampradaya previous life in some Sampradaya and in this life they just completed so Madhavendra Puri as Chaitanya Chaitanya Sam describes is the root of the tree of love of God so he is the root and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is actually the tree of love of God so he is the root and from him the whole tree has grown and later on it will be described how in this particular pastime that the extent of love of Krishna that was experienced by Madhavendra Puri that was experienced only by two other personalities that was Shri Nithya Radhanani and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so he had attained the highest level of love of God which cannot be experienced by anybody else Mahabhav level so we will discuss based on the acronym PURI we will compare Shri Nithya Prabhupada and Shri Madhavendra Puri so he is pure hearted pure hearted now Shri Madhavendra Puri in his external manifest leela had a very extraordinary history the lord’s associates they are eternally realised souls but when they manifest in this world they may not manifest their exalted devotion right from the beginning their devotion gets manifested as per the plan of the lord in the initial part of his life he played the role for agnostic and he was a seeker and from a seeker he became a seer so why did the lord arrange for him to play that sort of role so that at that time there were many other contemporary Bengali intellectuals and they had seen him earlier he was almost influenced by Christianity then he was attracted by Brahmo Samaj of Ram Mohan Roy and then both these people used to criticise Bhagavan for Krishna Bhakti and then when he became a Krishna Bhakta all of them were stunned they were ready to listen to him why? because they thought he knows what all we are thinking and why has he accepted this it’s like somebody from a scientific background then he is speaking about spirituality we have a Rajshankar degree just receive that degree we will come why? because they said he was in our camp why has he gone there? so you know so like that Madhavendra Puri in his external manifest was initially in Mayavada Sampradaya then from the Mayavada Sampradaya he actually went over to Madhava Sampradaya and from Madhava Sampradaya he came to Gaudiya Sampradaya so Ramachandra Puri was one of the early disciples of Madhavendra Puri and Ramachandra Puri had been initiated by Madhavendra Puri when apparently Madhavendra Puri was performing a leela as a Mayavadi so later on in the final days Madhavendra Puri was about to depart at that time what happens with the Mayavadi is that they also practise Bhakti but their idea is Bhakti is the way to Mukti you practise Bhakti right now because you are not so intelligent you become intelligent and you can go beyond the form to the formless right now you can worship the form right now you can all hear this pastime but ultimately the Mayavadi is, Prabhupada calls them Atheist why he calls them Atheist? not that they don’t believe in God they actually believe that they have to go beyond God that means they call themselves Transtheistic that means you believe in God and you go beyond God to understand I am God that’s why there is a slogan of the impostor list, I was an Atheist till I discovered that I was God so like that Radhachandra Puri was thinking that Madhavendra Puri is just doing a Bhakti as a means to Mukti and therefore at the final moments when Madhavendra Puri was about to depart from this world Ramachandra Puri saw that Madhavendra Puri is still doing Bhakti so now it is time for Brahma Gyaan he was still in Mayavadi conception but Madhavendra Puri was just doing Seerah and he said get out of my sight actually I want to remember the Supreme Lord and I am not able to remember the Supreme Lord there is a beautiful verse which is actually sung by Srimati Radharani when she is feeling separation from Krishna and Krishna has gone to Vrindavan so Radharani is praying O Krishna, you are the Lord, you are the Naag of Dheena Dayadra Dheena fallen, to the fallen you are Dayadra, you are merciful but we are fallen, you are merciful unfortunately instead of being merciful to us you have left us and gone to Mathura instead of being Dheena Naag you have become Mathura Naag now how will I be able to see you without seeing you, how can I tolerate the separation from you because I am not able to see you my heart is tortured my mind is wandering really not knowing what to do what should I do now so Radharani is in utter agony in separation from Krishna because Krishna has left and she doesn’t know what to do Madhavendra Puri Path was reciting this verse at that final moment because she was very exalted at the level of separation from Krishna and Ramachandra Puri thought that this is just a mundane, because their idea is bhakti is mundane and only gyan is transcendental why are you lamenting like a mundane give up this lamentation focus your mind on Brahman become calm and stoic Madhavendra Puri got so angry he said I have not been able to see Krishna I have not been able to achieve Krishna and this rascal is telling me to meditate on Brahman for a devotee Brahman is Kaivalyam Narakayate for a devotee Brahman is like hell the logis talk about Brahman which is indeed great but as compared to Sevananda, Brahmananda is very tiny and Brahmananda actually takes away from Sevananda because there was no there was not any Sevananda he did not want to be a friend of that he said get out so Vishwamitra Puri understood the heart of Madhavendra Puri so Madhavendra Puri was actually he just manifested this apparent garb as a Mayavadi so that he could attract Mayavadis to the path of Bhakti Sridhar Swami also apparently belonged to Mayavadi Sampradaya but actually was a Bhakta and his commentary was so wonderful that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu actually to some extent chastised Vallabh Bhatta when he tried to counter Sridhar Swami’s commentary so like that sometimes somebody may externally be in a Mayavadi Sampradaya but may be a Vaishnava at heart and therefore we cannot stereotype people as black and white and Madhavendra Puri was so pure hearted that actually Mayavadis ultimately have the desire of wanting to merge into God in the greatest enjoyment I want to enjoy here in the material world by becoming great but if I can’t become great then instead of becoming small I want to become the greatest so Mayavadis actually in one sense is the ultimate expression of false ego and envy so a devotee has no such desire why the ultimate expression of false ego and envy because I can’t become great so let me become the greatest no if I can’t become great let me become small that should be the attitude of a devotee so that’s why Mayavadis so strongly present by Abhra Vaishnavacharyas at the same time if the Mayavadis can come in the association of devotees they can be transformed but the Mayavadis should come in the association of devotees devotees should not go in the association of Mayavadis because Sangha Sanjayate Ka Maha in the second chapter Lord Krishna says that by our association our desires are determined so if the Mayavadis come in the association of devotees then their devotional desires will grow but if we go in the association of Mayavadis our Mayavadi desires will grow Mayavadis have a urge to merge they have the urge to merge but the devotees have the urge to serve so we want to develop that urge to serve and Bharadwaja Puripal he he is actually the connecting link between us and the Madhva Sampradaya also our connecting link with the Madhva Sampradaya is through Madhavendra Puri who was in the Madhva Sampradaya from his disciple Ishwara Puri and our second connecting link with the Madhva Sampradaya is also through Baladevidya Bhushan who was initiated in the Madhva Sampradaya and then he met Radha Ramadhar Goswami who was an exalted disciple of Krishnanachakravya Thakur and he became attracted to the bodies of Mahavadis and then he met Krishnanachakravya Thakur and that was the spiritual structure for me So Madhavendra Puripal was so pure hearted that he had the bhikshu gurusthi ayyachika gurusthi there are two gurusthi, bhikshu gurusthi and ayyachika gurusthi bhikshu gurusthi means actually even to actually beg requires a great amount of detachment why? because it’s a really humbling thing to go and beg but higher than that is the ayyachika gurusthi see in the Vedic culture even when a sadhu would go and beg he would go and beg now if you go and beg people will not give any food even if they give food, the food that they will give is not prasad so we can’t eat it actually in the Vedic culture when people would beg, they would beg only from the house of Brahmans beg only from the house of Brahmans because the Brahman would have a shalagram shila where the duty would be and they would get prasad that’s why the duties of the Brahmans are all yajan, yajan, patan, patan, daan and parigraha so they have to receive daan and they have to give daan to whom will they give daan? many of the Brahmans will be the rashtas so they receive charity from the other members of society and the mendicants who come, the renunciates they take charity not from the ordinary people but from the Brahmans but higher than the bhakti is the avyachaka bhakti avyachaka bhakti means that one does not even beg Madhavendra Puri had that avyachaka bhakti he used to think that why should I go and beg why should I waste my time in even begging to people let me get some food whatever I get I will eat and I will live so sometimes people feel that those who renounce the world they are not doing anything productive they are just like parasites in society yes there are some renunciates who might be like that but the actual mood of renunciation is that there is so much to do for the service of Krishna I don’t have time to work a job and earn my living let Krishna take care of that so actually everybody feels so much absorbed in the Krishna consciousness that he has no time so avyachaka bhakti is that level of Krishna consciousness he always remembers Krishna because he was so pure hearted Lord Krishna personally intervened Lord Krishna personally intervened and what did he do when he was in Vrindavan near Govindkul Lord Krishna killed a small boy and Madhavendra Puri was completely exhausted because he had been walking for a long time he had drunk a little water but he had not eaten anything and suddenly he saw a beautiful looking boy in front of him he charmed his heart the lord’s mysterious maya, yoga maya is such that when Madhavendra Puri was right in front of the lord he did not understand the lord he saw this beautiful boy and the boy was you know I have brought some milk for you please take this and Madhavendra Puri was charmed by this boy how did you know that I was hungry how did you know that he said in my village nobody goes hungry so that is actually Lord Krishna you know in my village even now if you go to Vrindavan once we had gone for Vrindavan yatra so we decided we will do Madhukari so we went to several houses and people gave us they gave us this chapatis and not pakkad nowadays they give jaggery jaggery and that was what Aadhaar Maharaj had when he was leaving from Vrindavan if you are a journey home so in my village nobody goes hungry and then he said this was like a transcendental level but he did not want to reveal that he is Krishna he said actually there were some ladies who were drawing water from a well over here and they saw you sitting for a long time and they realised you may not have eaten anything so they have sent you to take this milk and after some time I will come and collect the pot from you and then as he turned around suddenly he disappeared he disappeared at that time as he was drinking the milk suddenly he called his father and said this milk was so delicious and then he struck him and said oh this was my beloved lord and he felt so angry on one side he was delighted because the lord had personally come but he was aghast because he had not recognised the lord he had not offered obeisances to the lord and he felt unconscious ecstasy and agony both at that time that same boy came again and he said I am Krishna Krishna I am existing in a form over here where I have been neglected for a long time please come and rescue me you know the devotee normally prays to the lord please rescue me from danger but here the lord is praying please rescue me Hilayilokacharya is a great saint in the Ramayana Sampradaya Ramayana Sampradaya had two great disciples successor not disciple few hundred years later Vedanta Dashika and Hilayilokacharya so Hilayilokacharya writes about the archa vigraha he says how great is the mercy of the lord that who is he who is independent becomes dependent he who is unlimited becomes limited he who is all powerful becomes powerless so that the child soul who is tiny and limited can touch him, serve him and love him this is the supreme mercy of the Ishwar so actually G.T. Pong is an extraordinary mercy of the lord, what does he say? three things he who is unlimited becomes limited he who is all powerful becomes powerless like that he describes, this is the great principle that he makes himself accessible as a deity so that we can love him that’s why as I have discussed in the book I will worship explain that any religion where there is no tends to very soon become materialistic why? because it is very difficult to develop a higher taste so here Madhavendra Poonpal was blessed by Lord Gopal or Krishna himself in his dream to a particular place where he revealed his own presence and then a beautiful pastime is there, I won’t go into the full details of that but next morning he woke up and it was quite a thicket he told the Brajwansi, please come there is Lord Krishna over here with his G.T. Pong and they had to break through because there was so thick wilderness over there they saw G.T. Pong so actually this was the time when the invaders were attacking and that’s why the G.T.s had to be protected sometimes the G.T.s were protected and sometimes the G.T.s were abandoned but all this is the Leela of the Lord so that actually in the future the devotees can be glorified Lord doesn’t have to hide like this but the Lord hides so that in the future when the devotee reveals then the devotee becomes glorified by that devotee there is a Lord so we see what was the pure heart of Madhavendra Puri that his pure heart was he did not want to ask anything from the Lord and what did the Lord do? The Lord revealed and then the same principle we see when he came to Ramuna now Gopalji was installed in Vrindavan and then Gopalji came in his dream and told him please get Chimran home and then he went all the way down from there to Malaya and there is an Orissa so from Vrindavan to Orissa is very very far away and because it is so far away and because the journey is so dangerous due to both the decoys being there as well as the Muslims being the rulers so Madhavendra Puri did not want Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to go to Vrindavan he said please stay in Puri so that he keeps getting news of you regularly so it is a very long and dangerous journey but he went all the way and when we go down we come to the place Ramuna and actually when he came to Ramuna at that time he saw this beautiful deity and he saw and he could not hear the Gopalji have any of you been to Ramuna? we have been there very beautiful so it is about only 3 hours from our IIT Kharagpur Krishanathipur voice we have been there a few times small and beautiful place so there when he came to Ramuna he saw this beautiful deity of Gopinath and he saw that the Kheer was being offered to Gopinath now why did lord have to steal the Kheer for him? Choran, Sheer, Abhandan why did he have to steal? because Madhavendra Puri had the Koya Chakra now when he saw that Kheer he finally had to learn how this Kheer is made then he will make similar Kheer for Gopinath but his desire was not to eat the Kheer his desire was to serve the lord so he did not want the Kheer because he was hungry or because he was greedy he wanted the Kheer because he wanted to learn how to serve he was such an expert connoisseur of food that just by eating the Kheer he would know how it is being cooked so he wanted it it is not a reason we are not even hungry, we are just greedy give me something the second is that I am hungry and I need something to eat so he was neither greedy nor hungry he actually wanted the Kheer just for the service of the lord so that he could learn how that Kheer can be made for lord Gopal so actually when Pranath Maharaj was in Yuvrinda Avan at that time he became very famous for the Sandesh that he would make for his lord at that time he was under Kirtanath Maharaj, Tamal Krishna Maharaj and a special devotee 10th Pranath Maharaj to come from there to Radha Namodar Vatspad because the Prabhupada is going to come here you can cook Sandesh for Prabhupada over here so then he called him it was a spiritual desire because he knew that Prabhupada liked that Sandesh he wanted to offer Prabhupada the best so then Radha Maharaj told that I won’t come but I will teach you how to cook Sandesh he learned that then first thing he did was he took him to the cow shed sweeping the cows and brushing their hair I want to learn how to cook Sandesh because it’s all a part of Kumbh Sandesh actually the milk with which we serve the cow then the cows give milk with milk so it’s all a part of Kumbh Sandesh then the devotee said for a couple of days I can’t cook Sandesh like that a devotee has this desire that whenever he sees good service to Krishna being done he would also like to do service similar to Krishna so it’s not that a devotee is envious but a devotee wants to offer the best to Krishna and if somebody is offering to Krishna something better than him then rather than being envious he wants to learn from Krishna not that I want to become equal to or better than that devotee Krishna should get the best that is always the desire of the devotee so as devotees we would like to study and we would like to get the best marks not so that I am such a clever person but so that Krishna’s devotees are the best in every field with that attitude the devotee wants to do every service well and the devotee would do proofreading and editing of Sri Prabhupada’s books I had one friend before my Krishna consciousness who had a hobby his hobby was to read all the popular and famous books and find out proofreading mistakes in that and mail the book to the author saying that I found all these mistakes in your books so he would even spend money to mail to America an American author but then when I was introduced to Krishna Consciousness and I gave him Prabhupada’s books he read almost a dozen books saying I can’t find a single mistake in your books so the devotee wants to offer the best service to Krishna yes that’s what I was telling you right actually for every volume of Bhagavatam that they brought out they would have one sack full of proofread material when we boys publish the book we proofread once or twice when we ask Maharaj how many times should we proofread a book not more than 50 times so point is that actually the devotee wants to offer the best to Krishna in every way the best so yes if we want to learn something we can learn even from the materialist so that we can offer to Krishna better than what the materialist offers so Madhavya Puri had that attitude but even for the service of Krishna he was not ready to make although he wanted only for the service of Krishna he was not ready to make but because his desire was so flawed and so senseless the Lord was moved by the desire actually the Lord is very proper right the Lord is responsive the Lord is watching us he is noting our desire and when he saw his mind his sweet desire his senseless pure desire to serve me he decided I want to fulfil this desire and so what did he do he stole the key and he actually in that particular case normally speaking there were a fixed number of pots and the pujari would count and take the pots but that particular day by the yoga maya he counted wrong and he thought I have got all the pots and then the Lord came in the stream and told him this is my devotee Madhavendra Puri I have kept a pot of kheer for his sessions please go and take it so then he took a bath he took a bath and immediately went in and when he saw actually the pot was there Madhavendra Puri who are you? where are you? he didn’t know who he was but he understood he was a great soul he was falling down and he said Lord Gopinath has stolen kheer for you everybody was amazed what is this announcement and then Madhavendra Puri heard this Madhavendra Puri I am Madhavendra Puri and even before offering him the kheer he offered him obeisance he said this is wonderful Madhavendra Puri did not think he was a great soul he offered obeisance he offered him the kheer he told him everything that happened he told him everything that happened and Madhavendra Puri became overwhelmed with tears he described that he took the kheer and then he ate the kheer and not only did he eat the kheer he broke the pot into small pieces he remembered how Gopalji had said I will come and take the pot he had not taken the pot so now he had the pot so he broke the pot and kept pieces of the pot and every day he would eat small pieces of the pot now you may wonder what is there to eat in the pot for him he was actually tasting the love of Krishna and he was not just tasting milk and sugar so for him both the kheer and the pot in which the kheer came were actually sources of remembrance of Krishna’s extraordinary love for him and that’s why every day he would eat the small pieces of the pot so this is actually how the lord is conquered by the pure heart of a devotee and in this material world devotees have so many desires and the lord says you are careful to fulfil your desire according to your karma but a devotee has no material desire except the desire to serve the lord and because of this desire to serve the lord the lord goes out of his way to fulfil that desire and when he fulfils that desire the devotee becomes so overwhelmed by that so when Raghupath went to America to preach he had practically no desire other than the desire to glorify the lord if Raghupath had just wanted to be a famous book publisher he could have stayed in India and done that initially it would have been a struggle for him to write the first canto of Bhagavatam but once he had got it published the Indian Prime Minister the Indian President all of them had taken that as a gift and had given positive reviews about him and now the remaining cantos he could have published very easily for any author getting the first break in writing getting the first book published is difficult but once the first book is published and gets positive reviews subsequent books can come very easily so Raghupath could have become quite a famous author in India itself but actually Raghupath came up in a positive variety Raghupath went to America in 1965 62, 63, 64 he published the three parts of the first canto and actually the next book came only in 69, 70 for 5 years they couldn’t publish anything because in America publishing was not so easy it was expensive, it was complicated but Raghupath had the fame and the status as an author Raghupath had the fame and status as a sanyasi as a respected sadhu in Vrindavan Raghupath left because he wanted nothing except to glorify the lord and he gave it all up and then what happened? he was in so much struggle so here you see that he was not even ready to beg for food but then the lord stole and gave food to him when Madhavendra Puri came back from Puri back to Ramuna when he came to his darshan at that time Pujari himself first gave a pot to him there is no need for Gopinath to steal again for you so what happened? the lord fulfilled his wish in an extraordinary way Raghupath was blessed with so many temples so many books Raghupath writes in one letter that you know Jesus Christ had only 8 apostles but Krishna has given me hundreds and hundreds of devotees for all preaching as vigorously as the lord more vigorously so so Krishna writes in one conversation that actually the satsang with the Krishna consciousness movement exceeded my expectations exceeded my expectations and the lord reciprocates in a seriously strong way so with pure heartedness the desire for nothing but the service of the lord and desire for nothing but to glorify the lord and lead the lord conquer the lord and shower his blessings in an extraordinary way but then how can we know that our desire is pure hearted there are two extremes one is that we think I don’t have a pure heart so let me not try to do any service because when I get a service it is going to be with an impure heart so what is going to happen? I will become proud because I have done such a big service and then I will become famous therefore let me not do any service how does it work? because in the condition stage you know if we do some wonderful service we will become proud if we don’t do any wonderful service we will become envious of those who are doing wonderful service so what is the way out? the way out is that we do the service and we share the credit with others we pass the credit to Krishna master and to the other devotees let me see you are unassuming you are unassuming unassuming means humble you know he was he never took credit so Madhavendra Puri now he has become very famous he has become very very famous as such a great devotee that the lord has personally stolen kirtan so you cannot understand that sort of thing now imagine in Kanyuga it’s a perverted example it’s a some hostel stolen and you find out that you know we have the god of cricket Sachin Tendulkar, Sachin Tendulkar sent some gift to a particular person everybody will come to know why did Sachin Tendulkar send a gift to you? isn’t it? so that’s a perverted version now he is a temporary god but you know more than the kind of adulation that sports stars get now was actually devotion for the lord what did he do? he immediately left from there because he considered the glorification as a distraction from his duty glorifying me and I will not be able to chant I will not be able to think of Krishna but the fame is such a thing that actually the fame when we chase after it, it runs away when we go away from it, it runs after us so not only did the fame run after Madhavendra Puri it ran ahead of Madhavendra Puri and when he reached Tirunath Puri, already the fame was there and actually speaking why did the lord have to do such a thing? one reason was of course that he wanted to fulfil Anandapuri’s desire to have that kheer the lord could have just told the pujari you give kheer or he could have just inspired the pujari to give the kheer as Paramatma was in the heart why did he have to steal the kheer like that? because actually Anandapuri had a very difficult mission chandan which he had to get was first of all expensive and secondly reserved for Jananath chandan was not available freely for anyone so when Madhavendra Puri came from Vrindavan to Puri it would not have been very easy for him to get chandan normally speaking but because he became famous in this way that’s why the priest and the authority of Jananath Puri temple is a great devotee somebody has come along and says Krishna came in my dream and he told you should give a donation of 1 million rupees to me get lost, Krishna has not come in my dream who is going to believe? who is going to believe? and who is going to give chandan like that? sometimes when the lord gives instructions the instructions may appear impossible to us how do we fulfil them? but if the lord has given instructions it is the lord’s responsibility to arrange the facilities to fulfil the instructions what he wants to see is whether we have the desire to fulfil the instructions now whether we want to find ways to fulfil the instructions or we want to find excuses to avoid the instructions if Madhavendra Puri had wanted excuses he would have found so many excuses what do we do? let me see how it works so actually first of all for him to get chandan would have been very difficult not only was chandan would have been very difficult for him to get, but even if he got it how would he take it back on the lord? he was an old man by this time his fame came to his service and then the fame can be used for the service of the lord the devotee doesn’t deny it, he accepts it so all the people who had reached there earlier they told Jagannath Puri they told him we don’t want Jagannath to send chandan for him let us give chandan so then they gave chandan abundantly to him not only chandan they also gave camphor to him then he started so actually the devotee didn’t want credit and glorification credit and glorification can be used for the service of the lord and you see the same principle with respect to Shiva Prabhupada Shiva Prabhupada came to as I said when he was in America actually the movement in America was spreading quite nicely because the books were being distributed people were becoming devotees, America at that time was in hippie phase, so there were lot of people who were interested in spirituality and most of them received it, but there Prabhupada could have lived comfortably in America but he decided to take a new challenge what was that? I don’t know on one side you know we have heard how Prabhupada got out huge welcome it created a sensation in Mumbai in sadhu samaj the devotees started dancing on Vrindavan when Prabhupada came with his foreign disciples they were like hometown boy who has become a big swami Vrindavan, I would have got that pride you know he was a swami with us but now he has become an international guru very proud but that is only one side of the story actually the devotees faced a lot of difficulties first was Prabhupada was criticised because apparently he had spoiled Hindu dharma by allowing nakshadha yavanas to come into Hindu dharma Hindu dharma is so important that it can become spoiled by somebody it was strange actually you know when Kashmir came to India at the time of independence at that time there were many Hindus who had been forcibly converted to Islam almost something like 3 lakh muslims were there so they said anyway we were Hindus earlier now Kashmir has come back to India we will become Hindus so they made a petition to Nehru and they made a petition to Nehru reported to the Hindu Mahasabha in Varanasi and they said yes it is good that they have a desire to become Hindus they can become so in the next life now what is happening now Kashmir is burning so actually it is a very narrow minded thing that those who are born as Hindus can be Hindus actually the path of the Vedic culture is open for anyone who is willing to practise it Prabhupada in one lecture I think it was 1971 or something in Mumbai that time just Bangladesh had become separate so still the memories were there actually India was so big and then India lost Pakistan Prabhupada said you people are lamenting that India lost Pakistan but he said you join me and preach Bhagavad Gita the whole world will become Hindustan just see how many people are there who have become devotees and I am an old man who has gone and preached he said all of you see Prabhupada’s humility he said I am an old man I am going alone and preaching he said all of you also come and join me in preaching Bhagavad Gita he said you have to go busy and work in a mill work in a cotton mill anyway you are not coming to preach so you please give me your blessings so that I can preach what is Prabhupada telling Prabhupada telling to Indians who are you know please give me your blessings so that I can preach that is the humility of an Indian anybody he is never thinking that I am doing something great he is thinking that actually if you read this song what is Prabhupada saying I don’t know anything all of you have come into preaching why you have not come out of preaching Prabhupada wrote two songs other song also the desire of is very strong by his desire the whole name is spread all over the world so humility I keep thinking I am so fallen I am so fallen actually that is reverse false ego reverse false ego means what actually false ego means I think I am so great but the idea is I am still self preoccupied I am still thinking about me only I am so fallen I am still eye centred false ego means to be eye centred I may be great I may be small that doesn’t matter but I want to serve the lord so whatever abilities I have I will use them to serve the lord so real humility means that actually two things we don’t think so much about ourselves humility doesn’t mean to think low of ourselves but to think less of ourselves second thing is when we get the glorification we don’t use the glorification I am so great I am so great actually she did the glorification Prabhupada passed the glorification to his future master he passed the glorification to his disciples because of you I am able to do such Madanjapuri he exhibited this naturally what was his unassuming nature he did not want to sit and take the glorification because the glorification could be used in service of the lord it was all ready to use it now our irresponsible irresponsible this is a very important philosophical point that sometimes devotees ask the question can Krishna come in our dream can the spiritual master come in our dream is it possible this can be called as paranormal phenomena we have in our sampradaya so many examples of great devotees getting dreams and we cannot say that Krishna cannot come in our dream but the point is that what happens after Krishna comes in our dream if we look at Madanjapuri what happens how many times Krishna comes in your dream how many times first time yes I am here second time third time offer it to Gopinath offer it to Gopinath no need to take it to Gopal so now if you look at it the first dream got the glorification because he was such a great devotee actually the lord revealed himself its quite extraordinary second dream did not bring much not a lot of trouble I think that was not a dream that was just an imagination if he had wanted to because the second dream made a lot of hard work for him the whole day he had to go all the way far away he took the second dream so actually there is paranormal experiences and there are normal experiences so our paranormal experiences even if we have we can have them its not that you have to say that you cannot have this paranormal experience if you say that you have a dream of Krishna its not like that if somebody has a dream of Krishna its fine but what we see is what effect does it have on your normal devotional service what happened to Madanendra Puri each time his normal devotional service increased isn’t it yes, if Krishna is so merciful to us that he is coming to us in a dream then we should wake up and chant Hare Krishna more attentively not that we go to sleep and think I will get a dream of Krishna so the idea is that the proof of our spiritual advancement and the reality of our spiritual experience the proof of the reality of our spiritual experience is how we perform the normal devotional service so yes, lord can come in the dream of anyone and he came in the dream of Anand what was his response is we see that his responsibility in the dream is really there its hard work so will a dream come, will a dream get an instruction many times for us what to speak of a dream in real life also we get an instruction, we don’t take it seriously but in the dream an instruction will come and he takes it so seriously and he sacrifices everything for the service of the lord so that is actually the response of nature and if you see that way actually Bhoopal also gave him an instruction in his first meeting second time he gave a letter but then he came in his dream and Bhoopal writes in his humility that I was quite fine because Bhoopal relatively speaking had not quite a wealthy family not a fabulously wealthy and he lived relatively in comfort he said how can I stay in Amritsar how can I live the life of a sannyasi Bhoopal could just say I can get rid of it Bhoopal didn’t do that Bhoopal actually took that dream seriously in a dream he takes it seriously and you see how committed he was to the sannyasi so now why did the lord again come in a dream the third time actually for him to take all that chandan back to Vrindavan would have been very very difficult because as I was telling you earlier the Vrindavan area was ruled by Muslims Muslims not only they don’t believe in deity worship but they see it as an opportunity for plundering money so they would have otherwise they would not have any benefits of course the lord could have come with the Sudarshan Chakra he could have done anything but he did not want to put his devotee there instead the devotee had seen the sincerity and dedication of the devotee for him Bengal was ruled relatively speaking by you know Ramana was just on the border of Orissa and because the Orissa king was also very powerful so the Bengal king was not so hostile to the Hindus because he knew the Hindus can join with the Oriyas and they can overthrow him so he was also oppressive but not so oppressive that’s why we have Sanatan Goswami they are incorporated into the government because they realised that the Bengali people are very religious and if we disturb their religious sentiments too much, there will be uprisings so for him to travel all the way to the decoits up to Kundan would have been very very difficult so lord knows what difficulties are there when we are doing the service and how to resolve the difficulties he wants to see our determination so what did he do for Maharajapuri? again he came there and he told the Gopal temple I and Gopal are non-religious so please apply the sandal over here and he was delighted so much sandal for the deity where they started applying the sandal to the lord so sometimes we feel that we are struggling with so many difficulties we have our kathas internally we have so many difficulties externally there is some anti-Christian going on now we wonder is Krishna playing his flute in the spiritual world happy with the Gopis Krishna is playing his flute happy with the Gopis he is aware of the difficulties that we are facing but he wants to see our difficulty Gopal writes in one part the lord can send difficulties the lord can remove difficulties that’s the omnipotence of the lord he can send difficulties what he wants to see is how much we are determined to serve so what happens is very often that our determination and our difficulty when the two collide you might have seen Ramayana earlier two enemies are shooting arrows one arrow falls off two arrows collide and one arrow falls off like that you know the determination and the difficulty they come what happens? but for a pure devotee when we say somebody is empowered that doesn’t mean that they don’t have difficulties the empowerment is that the determination doesn’t wane no matter what happens when the difficulty comes determination is there determination is so strong that it falls by itself so somehow or other river finds a way to the ocean round the stone round the stone or breaking the stone so like that a devotee who is determined to serve the lord finds some way to keep serving the lord so because the devotee is determined the devotee is responsible so the lord has to the lord has to serve the devotees which is the Prabhupada was also so responsible he considered the instruction of the spiritual master as Prabhupada writes in Jyotish Chaitanya that in the absence of the spiritual master the instruction of the spiritual master is the wealth of the different people the wealth of the different people so the wealth of the disciple means what we have a parampara parampara passes us down something so what is the legacy that is passed down sometimes some other devotees criticise Krishna Prabhupada so Prabhupada told Tamal Krishna Maharaj you know if anybody criticises me you can ask them, how many temples have they opened, how many books have they written, how many disciples have they made he he says, I have inherited the legacy of the spiritual master what is the legacy of the spiritual master the legacy is not the temples not that it is ok you are officially made the wife manager or the wife whatever it is you know this OC or this or that that is not the legacy the real legacy that the spiritual master gives the disciple is the desire the desire to serve, the desire to glorify Krishna, that instruction so the instruction comes our desire that means the instruction of the spiritual master should become our only desire and no other desire so Prabhupada took that instruction of the spiritual master and his desire and Vishay Prabhupada Japadi from this world he was asked, who will be your successor Prabhupada replied, whoever wants to be what does it mean whoever wants to be he says, my instructions are given whoever takes the instructions and moves his life accordingly he will be my successor so the legacy that we get from the spiritual master is when Krishna has a desire to serve and if he has a desire to serve then he will be empowered so Prabhupada often said that our spiritual advancement depends on how much response we give on one side Madhavan is such a transcendental devotee that he is not even ready to stretch his hand lift his hand up to beg food but for the sake of the lord he is ready to walk for thousands of kilometres to get change yes, for a devotee he is so responsible to the lord, he is ready to do everything and the lord I so responsibility is one thing but intent means so actually the spiritual master is like a treasure what is the meaning of a treasure just like if you have a treasure if you have a jewel the jewel may appear just to be like a weighing glass or something when you engage the jewel then you realise how much money is involved. So like that, when we get an instruction, the instruction is like a jewel.
But you have to encash the instruction. What does mean encash the instruction? Apply the instruction. Then we will see that we will get so many abilities, so much empowerment, so many facilities, so many miraculous things in our life will happen.
And we will see Krishna practically acting in our life. So actually, the pastimes that are given in the Chaitanya Charitambul and other scriptures, they are not just historical stories for entertainment. Yes, there is entertainment.
But they are also for inspiration and instruction. So we get inspiration by seeing the beauty qualities of Mahayana. We get instruction on how we can also mould our spiritual life.
So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself describes this pastime when he is going from Mayapur to Puri along with the Sushmits. So he concludes this whole pastime by telling that in this pastime, two things are illustrated. Prabhura bhakta vatsalya ara bhaktera prema seema.
He says, Prabhura bhakta vatsalya, great love of the lord for the devotee and the limit of the love of the devotee for the lord. These two are illustrated in this pastime. And these two, that is the love of the devotee for the lord and the love of the lord for the devotee.
These two are what makes spiritual life vibrant in our life. And we see this in the life of Srila Prabhupada. Because Srila Prabhupada’s love for Krishna in this whole life happens.
Lord Krishna’s love for Srila Prabhupada. So many devotees, so many blessings, so many extraordinary things happen. This is a wonderful world of love which is revealed to us through these pastimes.
We can all enter into this world of love also. And the way to enter into this world of love is actually by developing the desire to love Lord Krishna. And the way to develop the desire is, one way is chanting the holy names.
We chant the holy names as actually a prayer for service. I already have so much service. When I chant, then I will get more service.
No, actually what we want is not just service but a desire for service. So chanting will give the desire for service. And of course whatever desire for service we have, use it.
So the holy name, all of you may be remembering that story of Kuljasimsir. You know the treasure which was kept inside the cave and then passed on. Kuljas, it’s open.
So like that, the Hare Krishna Mahamantra is the Kuljasimsir for the Surya Chakra. It’s the password to the world of love. It opens our heart to experience the love of the Surya Chakra.
And eventually it takes us, transports us to the Surya Chakra. To summarise, we started by discussing about how we should not judge a devotee externally. Somebody might be externally in some Sampradaya, but he may have great devotion.
In Madhava Sampradaya, apparently in Mayava Sampradaya or Madhava Sampradaya. We discussed, he was what? Pure hariter. He was not ready to ask for kheer, either not even because he was greedy or not even because he was hungry.
He wanted only for the service of the Lord. And a pure heart, the Lord reciprocated by stealing the kheer. He was unassuming.
He did not want any claim for himself, but he wanted to. When he wanted to serve the Lord, his claim could be useful, he was ready to use that. His heart was his own.
As the Lord came in his dream, that was an extraordinary, wonderful experience. But more important is, what you do when you wake up. So, Krishna came in my dream.
Ok, it’s good that Krishna came in the dream, but when he woke up, he went home. That is more important. And I will tell you how a devotee is intent to do whatever service he is told.
Sri Madhavendra Puripada ki! Jai! Sri Krishna Prabhupada ki! Jai! Sri Madhavendra Puripada Thirubhava Mahasaya ki! Jai! Gauravastu Vrindaki! Jai Gauravastu Vrindaki!