Satsanga focus is about ‘Universal Conception of Sri Guru’
A summary is presented below.
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaj discussed the universal conception of Sri Guru from a vyasa puja offering, which was presented by Srila Prabhupada after the disappearance of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, in 1936. Srila Prabhupada got together with his godbrothers for the vyasa puja of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, their spiritual master. And so Prabhupada wanted to present this lecture, this vyasa puja offering, which was an appeal to unity to his godbrothers and sisters. Srila Prabhupada tried to present this higher conception of unifying, for unifying different warring sections, disagreeing sections among the disciples of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Srila Prabhupada clarified with divine wisdom, that the sectarian idea that the spiritual master is limited to a particular person, form, or institution is a misconception of the finite plane. And thereby Srila Prabhupada establishes the universal conception of Guru.
Srila Prabhupada explained the principle of Guru. One should not think that Guru is a particular person, or belongs to a particular organization. The transcendental truth, which is Absolute, is valid for all persons regardless of whatever institution, whatever personality they may be connected with. To live within the relativity of this world and to live with the relativity of the Absolute world, these things have to be discriminated. Not what we think in this world, from our experiences, from our meager understanding, from our feelings or from our emotions. That is not the criterion by which we judge what is proper thing or what is that actual truth.
acaryam mam vijaniyan, Krsna says I am the acarya. The infinite comes down to the finite and the point where they meet that is called Guru or acarya. So, we cannot approach the infinite, but it is the infinite that has to approach. The finite cannot approach infinite; the infinite has to approach finite. And that approach of the infinite to the finite is called Guru. That is how Krsna communicates with us.
So Guru should not be considered as an ordinary person. We have to see Guru as Krsna’s grace. Of course Guru is also a person, a finite person no doubt. Otherwise we are finite persons, we can only relate to a finite person. But we have to understand that from the transcendental point of view also.
The inspired part of Guru, it is called. What is inspired, what is coming from that higher plane, whatever inspiration Guru has, that individual has for receiving that knowledge from his spiritual master, being receptive to that knowledge from the higher world and delivering that to us, we can benefit greatly from that. We have to consider that as Krsna’s direct connection with us. That is the proper way of approaching Guru. That is recommended in the scriptures. That is whole method that Krsna has made for instructing the living entities of this world about Himself. So there is no fault in that, no imperfection in that.
matala harijana kirtana ranga pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange
Genuine devotees intoxicated with the ecstacy of chanting the Holy Names, worship from afar the path of spontaneous love by following the scriptural injunctions of regulative devotion.
“The materialistic demeanor can not possibly stretch to the Transcendental Autocrat Who is ever inviting the fallen conditioned souls to associate with Him through devotion or eternal serving mood.”
“If I am sincere in my search for God, then God will also come to me from his side, and where we meet, he should be considered Guru.”
Satsanga focus is about ‘Proper Process of Approaching Spiritual Master’
A brief transcription is presented below:
namo om visnupadaya krishna prestaya bhutale
srimate bhaktivedanta svamin iti namine
namaste sarasvati deve goura vani pracarine
nirvisesa sunyavadi pascatya desa tarine
om ajnana timirandasya jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah
sri caitanya mano-bhistam sthapitam yena bhu-tale
svayam rupah kada mahyam dadati sva padantikam
vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca krpa sindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavesbhyo namo namah
sri advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda
hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
Jay Srila Prabhupada Ki Jay…
Sripad Maharaj Ki Jay…
Gaura Bhakta Vrinda Ki Jay…
Devotee: PuriMaharaj Ki Jay…
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami: Hare Krishna
Devotee: Maharaj, Subendhu Prabhu, he was telling in past that, he was having a doubt about spelling, k r s n a and K r i s h n a. But now his doubt is cleared.
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami: yes. Actually k r s n a is because of the ASCII text form, we can’t put the diacritics on those letters. And there is a certain standard for using the letters. With the diacritic mark for r, by itself like that would stand for an r with a dot under it. And the s, by itself would be with a dot under s. And the n also has a dot under it. So, what they mean by r with a dot under it is ri. And the s with the dot under it means means sh, and the n with the dot under is the special way of pronouncing n as in Krishna .
Devotee: Maharaj, it’s in English?
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami: That’s transliteration of the Sanskrit. So really speaking, when we are doing ASCII we should write Krishna . Anyhow, just because we write that so many times, I write krsna just to make it shorter in writing. But the meaning is that they correspond to a certain protocol in the academic world, which would see that Sanskrit letters are transliterated. The Ri in Sanskrit letter is represent by R with a dot under it. And the Sh sound in Sanskrit has a special letter connected to that and that is represented in the English letter with s with a dot under it. And there are a couple of n’s in Sanskrit. And so we distinguish that one, particularly under krsna’s name with a dot under the n. Krishna …
Devotee: Maharaj, in the 8th chapter of Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna is telling that there are different kinds of persons who are learned in vedas and they follow the practices recommended in vedic scriptures. For example, some chant the Omkar and then, there are also persons who are in renounced order of life. They are practicing celibacy etc. Krishna is telling in this sloka:
yad aksaram veda-vido vadanti
visanti yad yatayo vita-ragah
yad icchanto brahnacaryam caranti
tat te padam sangrahena pravaksye
After telling about knowledge, Krishna also telling:
ananya-cetah satatam
yo mam smarati nitsayah
nitya yuktasya yoginah
That’s means: “for one who always remembers Me without deviation, I’m easy to obtain, O Son of Prtha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service.”
So, the question is Maharaja, that means for those persons, even having Vedic knowledge but without devotion, Krishna is not available. So, I would like to have some more light on this Maharaj. What is this knowledge and what is devotion, what’s the connection between them and what is the difference between them?
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami: What verse is that in 8th chapter of Gita you are talking about, what number?
Devotee: Bhagavad gita, 8.11 and 8.14.
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami: So, why is the devotional necessary for knowledge, is that your question?
Devotee: People are trying to have knowledge because they want to achieve some success in life, for example, they want to have salvation, or they want to achieve some different goals. But even then, Krishna is telling in the end we require devotion and then when devotion is there and to get Krishna is very easy. Otherwise even if there is so much knowledge, without devotion Krishna is not available.
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Swami: Knowledge means that you know. You know something. To know God, to know Krishna , that is one thing. But we can understand that is different from serving Krishna and loving Krishna . Knowing something, knowing someone. You may know some particular person, some famous person, doesn’t necessarily mean you have any affection for that person. There is no deep commitment to that person. Simply to know them is not enough to establish any kind of lasting connection with them. So Krishna doesn’t advice that we simply try to know Him. We may know Him, and think. “Well I know so many things.” And we remain puffed up with our egotistic knowledge. Acquisition of knowledge is still maintained.
Knowing God does not mean that your ego has been eliminated yet. You may think oh I’m so smart; I’m so intelligent. The “I” is still there and centering on itself, “my knowledge”identifying with oneself. Then it is not pure. It is not pure transcendental. Realization is not evolvedyet. Still there is some sense of the self, self-importance. Self-grounding. And when finite self-grounding is there, that is not the spiritual realm. So it is necessary to overcome that identification with the self of the finite plane that is still mundane.
Just like in our Hegel religion list. There are some people who are thinking that, ‘the absolute is determined by me.’ ‘I can make some determination about what the absolute is from my thinking. And I am the absolute.’ ‘Because by my thinking, the absolute is coming, therefore I am the original source of the absolute.’ This still remains located within the ‘I’. And so many philosophers believed that. It includes Kant, Fichte and Schelling who were within the so-called German idealistic camp, Idealistic world view at the end of the 1700′s. These three were there. They came and were pronouncing this, enunciating this finite conception of the absolute. Maintaining their own ground within themselves and determining the absolute from that position.
Even Fichte, went so far as to say that ‘God is projection of whatever we are. We can only understand the absolute only based upon what we know ourselves. We are persons, so we project that the absolute is a person. We have so many qualities, so we project those qualities on God. Like that he was thinking. And he was rightly called an atheist. Because that is atheism. And there are some participants in that list who are enunciating the same kind of thinking. And they consider themselves Christian, but actually can be considered as atheist. Because they don’t consider the supremacy of God. Supremacy of the absolute. And we are grounded there. And we have no independent existence apart from that. So that is only available, that consciousness is available only to the devotee. And this is the significant mark, that distinguishes. The devotee from the materialist, non-devotee. That he gives up, the grounding within himself, and he puts his whole foundation of his being in Krishna .
So this is the difference. So the devotee who is rendering devotional service that is not something that comes from the grounding within our self. It has its origin there in that world, higher world, superior world, and it descends to us. They capture us and bestow us within itself with its own service. That is Bhagavan. Bhagavan means who is attracting our service.
tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet samit panih srotriyam brahma-nistham
tad vijnanartham, to know what is tat, what is truth, what is what in the true sense. We must approach sa gurum, Sri Guru. Eva abigachetmeans, you must do that, there is no other choice, it’s not just a suggestion. This is the process. We must do that. Because guru is not an ordinary person. He has some had made some progress in that direction and we want to benefit from that. That would be to our maximum advantage to do that in our life. That will be the maximum benefit we can do for ourselves. We must do that therefore.
If we do not do that, what happens? We would remain in this world for millions of lifetimes. We don’t know. Because we have failed to take up the activity that we must do as human beings, that Veda has instructed us, as human beings what we are to do. We are not here because we have vast intelligence. But whatever, we have some intelligence. We are not here to waste it like animals. Animals are eating, sleeping, mating and defending. And if human beings act like animals, then they are wasting the gift that they have as human life endowed with this reason. That is with rationality, to understand that there is something more to this life. And to utilize, that reason, to get freedom from the lower phase of existence.
So eva abigachet means you must do that. And the samit pani means with the firewood, sacrificial wood. We must go to serve the srotiyambrahma nistham. Brahma nistham is, one who is devoted to the Brahman, the spiritual, absolute world. Nistham is completely absorbed in that. Fixed and devoted, attracted. Srothiyam means who had heard what has been revealed. Because revealed knowledge comes in Parampara, from guru parampara, from guru. So like the wood. Why is the wood there, to take to Guru. What is the sacrifice that must be performed? Actually the disciple himself is the sacrificial wood and guru is the fire. When the wood is dry, then put it in the fire. And the heat of devotional life and the light of transcendental wisdom will come out, will be kindled. But if the wood is wet, if he still has material desire (in the disciple), then the fire won’t come so easily, it will take a long time. So both must be qualified. Qualification of guru is srothiyam brahma nistham, he has heard from the proper source, the guru parampara, and also he has his fixation. His absorption stands there, in the higher realm. That kind of person we want to, we can take benefit from, how to approach that world. Another qualification is we have to give up our material attachments.
Jay Srila Prabhupada Ki Jay…
Gaura Bhakta Vrinda Ki Jay…
Lord Ramacandra appeared on this day. Today is called Sri Rama Naumi. On the ninth day of the moon Lord Ramacandra appeared. His father was the king of Ayodhya. Ramacandra is the eldest son. The life and activities of Lord Ramacandra is in a book which is called Ramayana. You have heard the name of Ramayana.
Here is a recording of Srila Prabhupada Hawaii 1969.
This is a verse from Brahma-samhita in which the incarnation of Lord Ramacandra is described. Ramadi. Not only Rama, but there are many other, innumerable incarnations. They are compared with the waves of a river. As the waves of the river or the waves of the ocean cannot be counted, similarly, how many incarnations are there of the Supreme Lord it is not possible to count. But out of them, the principal names are mentioned in the sastras. Therefore it is said ramadi. Ramadi means Rama and also other, many incarnations. And they are existing. Not that one incarnation appeared and it is finished. No. Not like that. Just like Lord Ramacandra appeared on this planet, say millions of years before. He appeared in the Treta-yuga. Treta-yuga means… We have passed only five thousand years of this age, Kali-yuga. Before that, there was Dvapara-yuga. Dvapara-yuga means 800,000 years. And before that, there was Treta-yuga, which continued for twelve hundred thousands of years. That means at least two million years before Lord Ramacandra appeared on this planet.
So now Lord Ramacandra appeared in Ayodhya. There is a place in Ayodhya, in northern India. There He appeared. As Kanna appeared in Mathura… That is also northern India. And Mathura is about ninety miles down southward from New Delhi. You have heard the name of New Delhi, the capital of India. So Ayodhya is also situated about five hundred miles northeast of New Delhi. So Lord Ramacandra appeared on this day. Today is called Sri Rama Naumi. On the ninth day of the moon Lord Ramacandra appeared. His father was the king of Ayodhya, and he had three wives. So out of… No. He had two wives. So out of two wives he got four sons. Ramacandra is the eldest son. The life and activities of Lord Ramacandra is… [break] …in a book which is called Ramayana. You have heard the name of Ramayana. Ramayana is also accepted as history. Vedic literatures are histories also. The Puranas, the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Mahabharata, and Ramayana, they are counted amongst the history. The history of Ramacandra is that His father wanted to retire. Dasaratha, Maharaja Dasaratha. And he decided to enthrone Lord Ramacandra and retire. So everything was settled, but just one day before, his youngest wife turned the whole thing into different way. Sometimes Maharaja Dasaratha was suffering from what is called whitlow, some trouble in the finger? And this queen served him very nicely, and he was pleased. And he said, My dear Sarmin ha, if you want some benediction from me, I can give you. And she replied that I shall ask you for the benediction when I require it. Not now. So just one day before Lord Ramacandra’s coronation, she approached her husband Maharaja Dasaratha and reminded him, My dear husband, you promised to give me some benediction, and I told you that I shall ask you when I require it. Maharaja Dasaratha said, Yes, I remember. You want some benediction just now? She said, Yes. And what is that? She said that Ramacandra cannot be seated on the throne. My son should be coronated, Bharata. He was surprised. It is a big demand. So he said, All right. That will be done. Your son. Because formerly, the kings… Not only formerly, even up to date, there are many ksatriya kings in India. They have more than one wife. And they are, naturally, there is rivalry between different wives. So the same thing. Human psychology is the same. Even two million years ago the same mentality was there, and she asked that My son should be the king, not Ramacandra. Ramacandra happened to be the son of Kausalya, the elder queen.
So Maharaja Dasaratha agreed and called for Ramacandra. My dear boy, your… She asked also that… She was very diplomatic. She wanted that Ramacandra go to forest for fourteen years. The idea was political, that The king may agree to install my son just now. Now, after a few days, this Ramacandra may come with His army, and there may be some difficulty to continue the kingdom. So she wanted that Ramacandra should go to the forest and He should not come back till the end of fourteen years from this day. So Maharaja Dasaratha agreed. Because he was ksatriya. Just see the promise. A ksatriya never goes back from the promise, never refuses any challenge. If a ksatriya is challenged by somebody, that I want to fight with you, oh, he cannot refuse. This is ksatriya spirit. He cannot say that I am now busy. Suppose somebody comes to you, that I want to fight with you. You may say, What nonsense fight? I have no time. We are in the temple. But a ksatriya cannot deny that. A ksatriya at once must accept. Oh, yes. Come on. And the weapon should be, if he has no sword or weapon, he should be supplied weapon and fight. This is ksatriya spirit. They were highly charitable and chivalrous and keeping promise and with a great tendency for ruling over. They shall rule over. Administrators. Their business is…
There are different prescription for different classes of men for their livelihood. The brahmanas, they can pull on their livelihood by six ways. Pa hana pa hana yajana yajana dana pratigraha. Six. And they must be qualified with twelve high qualities. We have many times discussed. Out of that qualification, truthfulness is the first item for a brahmana. A ksatriya may speak lies. That is allowed, because he has to be diplomat, politician. But a brahmana, oh, he’s not allowed to speak lie. This is the system, caste system or varnasrama system. Everyone was trained. Because these four classes of men are required in a society. For proper upkeep of society, one class of men must be very intelligent, highly qualified, with all good qualities. They must be trained in that way, ideal character so that people can see and follow them. Therefore brahmanas were taken to so much respect because they’re ideal character, learned, and godly, knows the science, spiritual science. Therefore they’re held in high estimation and topmost of the society. The next, the administrator, administrative class, ksatriyas. They are trained how to kill. The ksatriyas were allowed to hunt in the forest to learn the art of killing because that was necessity for the ksatriyas. Knatriya, if he… If the king, if he finds somebody is doing wrong, he can immediately chop off his head if he likes. The king was so powerful. And it is not that if there was some war, it is not that the president or the king shall sit down comfortably at home and ordinary soldiers will go and lay down their life. No. Formerly, the king or the head of the state, he should first of all go there in the fight. You see in the picture, the chief men of the fighting in the Kuruknetra, both sides, they were arrayed, this side, that side, with their chariot.
Not that the head man, the chief man, or the commander is taking shelter back side, protecting himself, and poor soldiers are (chuckles) thrown into the fighting. No. These were ksatriya spirit. And it is necessary that a class of men should be trained up in that way, ksatriya, fighting men. In India, because this training was there since a very long time, so there is no difficulty in recruiting soldiers there. There is a class of men, they are very much forward in fighting still. They are called… Just like the Gurkhas, the Nepalese. You have heard the name of Nepal. Still a small state, independent state. They are not within India. Between China and India. The whole Nepal population, they are ksatriyas. Oh, they are very good fighters. Similarly, the Sikhs, the Jatas. There are classes. So they’re always forward for fighting. And you’ll be surprised that the British Empire was voluntarily liquidated because they lost India. The Britishers, they understood that because we are now losing India, there is no more possibility to keep our eastern empire. Therefore they liquidated. Why? Actually, the whole British Empire were being administered or managed by Indian soldiers, these Sikhs and Gurkhas. They extended their empire. After taking their position with India, they extended British Empire in the Middle East and Far East simply by these Sikhs and Gurkha soldiers. They got supremacy on the Burma and everywhere.
So there is necessity of a class of fighting men. You are finding in your country difficulty in recruiting because the recruiting process is wrong. You are recruiting from persons… You are training persons just like sudras, and you want them to fight. How they can fight? It is not possible. So as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, that catur-varnyam maya san am guna karma vibhagasa … [Bg. 4.13]. Lord Kanna said that The four classes or orders of the society, brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra, is planned by Me according to work and quality. So this ksatriya quality men is also required, the brahmana quality of men is also required, the mercantile community, they are also required, and the laborer class, they are also required. Of course, laborer class, they do not require any training. Laborer class means one who cannot do anything, neither become brahmana, nor become ksatriya, nor become vaisya. That means the last balance of the population, they are called laborer class, sudra. Sudra means one who has no training. Sudra has no samskara. Samskara means training. Everyone is accepted as sudra by birth. Janmana jayate sudra. Janmana means by birth. By birth, everyone is born a sudra, a fourth-class man. It is to be accepted, and actually so. Just like a child, innocent child, what does he know? He has to be trained. Either you train him as a brahmana or train him as a ksatriya or train him as a vaisya. Or otherwise, he is sudra already, born sudra. Sudra has no training. Everyone, the basic principle, basic foreground, everyone, it is accepted sudra. Now, if you train him as a brahmana, then he becomes a brahmana. If you train him as a ksatriya, then he becomes a ksatriya. If you train him as a vaisya… So I think this is, this system is very scientific so that if you want help of a really intelligent man or God realized man, it is ready, the brahmana class. Just like if you require the help of a lawyer, we have got so many lawyers. If you require the help of medical man… Because there are trained men. Similarly, the society requires to train a certain class of men to become brahmanas.
Just like we are training the Kanna conscious. The Kanna consciousness is meant for the brahmanas. They are not meant for fighting because they are not being trained for fighting. They have been trained for becoming brahmanas. Who is brahmana? Brahma janati iti brahmana. The four divisions are described like this. Janmana jayate sudra , everyone is born sudra. That is accepted. Samskarad bhaved dvija . Now if you train him, never mind in which family he’s born, you have to train him. Just like boys are sent to school for being trained. So everyone is accepted as sudra, but you now train him. He goes to the guru-gaha. Guru-gaha means teacher’s house. Formerly, for being trained, there was no such big scale school and colleges. Every village… Still, fifty years before in India, in every village there was a small school conducted by the brahmana, and the village children would be trained up there. So he was sent for training. And there was no school fee. The boys will go there, and on behalf of the teacher or spiritual master, they will go, brahmacari, door to door, and beg and bring forth alms, rice, dahl, grains, and everything. That was the system. There was no school fee. There was no problem how to send a boy to the school. Samskara. Now he’s trained up. The teacher sees the psychology of the boy, in which way he should be trained. Either he should be trained as a vaisya or he should be trained as a ksatriya. So everyone was trained like that, but generally, the son of a ksatriya… Just like Maharaja Ramacandra or Arjuna, from the very beginning they were trained as ksatriya. Naturally, if somebody is the son of a medical man his father trains him to become a medical man in future. That is the natural tendency. If the boy is different altogether that is another question, but naturally, that is the tendency. So a ksatriya’s son was trained as ksatriya. A brahmana’s son was trained as a brahmana and a vaisya’s son was trained as a vaisya, and sudra had no training. So gradually this became a caste system. Brahmana’s son became brahmana. Because formerly, the training was there. But when it is vitiated, although a person born in the family of a brahmana, he is doing the work of a sudra. So according to Vedic scripture, one is classified according to his work and quality, not by birth. That is the classification of sastra. Just like in the Bhagavad-gita the Lord says catur-varnyam maya san am guna-karma-vibhagasa [Bg. 4.13]. Guna means quality and karma means work. One must be qualified for the work and he must actually work. Then he is counted classified into that, I mean to say, category.
Just like if you are simply trained or educated as a lawyer, and if you are not practicing in the court, nobody comes to you to consult as a lawyer. Nobody cares for you. You must be practicing also. Similarly, to become a brahmana means first of all, he must know what is Brahman and he must be actually situated in the activities of Brahman. So devotional service are activities of Brahman. Activities in Kanna consciousness means activities in Brahman. Brahme carati iti brahma brahmacari. Carati means acts. Actually, he acts in life, applies the principles of brahmana in his life, he is called brahmacari. So these were the trainings. So just see how the training was, that a ksatriya cannot refuse his promise. So Maharaja Dasaratha, he fulfilled the promise of his youngest wife and asked his son, eldest son Ramacandra, My dear boy, You’ll have to go to forest for fourteen years. That is the desire of Your youngest mother. And I promised that I shall fulfill her promise, uh, request. So please accept. Ramacandra said, Yes father, I am ready. Just see. This is the quality. Out of the six opulences of God, this is one quality.
How one becomes God? God is not manufactured by vote. There are definition who is God. God must be the proprietor of all the riches. Aisvaryasya samagrasya. Samagra means all. Nobody can compete with Him. Here, in this world, material world, I am rich man, and there is another rich man who can compete with me. There is another rich man who can compete with him. But nobody can compete with God in richness. That is one qualification of God. Nobody can say that I am richer than God. You can say I am richer than Ford or Rockefeller or this or that. You can say. But nobody can say that I am richer than God. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it is said matta parataram nanyat asti ki cid dhana jaya. Matta parataram nanyat ki cid asti dhana jaya [Bg. 7.7]. Dhana jaya is a name of Arjuna, and Kanna said that, My dear Arjuna, there is nobody greater than Me. So if anyone claims that he is God, he must prove by practical example that nobody is richer than him. That is the first. But unfortunately, we are accepting so many Gods. A rascal in the street, he also claims that I am God.
So similarly, the other qualification, nobody can be stronger than God, nobody can be wiser than God, nobody can be more beautiful than God, and nobody can be more renouncer than God. So here Ramacandra, Lord Ramacandra exhibited the quality how He renounced the whole kingdom simply on the order of His father, His obedience to father. He could have argued with His father, My dear father, you, simply for keeping your promise and actuated by the dictation of a woman, you are doing this. Let us stop it. Everyone is expecting that tomorrow My coronation will be there, and they love Me so much. Because He… Just like Kanna was so much loved, similarly, Lord Ramacandra was the life of the people. They were very much expecting that Ramacandra was going to be enthroned tomorrow. So how they were celebrating, how they were decorating the whole city. Everything. He never argued. He accepted immediately: Yes, father. I am ready.
So then one of the brothers, Laknmana, He also requested Ramacandra, My dear brother, You also take Me. I am Your constant companion. I must go with You. So He said, That’s Your wish. Voluntarily, if You want to come, You can come with Me. Then Sita, His wife, young wife, She also said, I’ll go with You. Ramacandra requested His wife, Oh, you cannot go with Me. It is very difficult. You are a king’s daughter, and you are brought up in so nice way, and you are so beautiful. You cannot go. You cannot take the trouble of living in the forest. So she said, Oh, I am Your wife. Married wife. So I must go even if You go to hell. This is ideal wife. She could have refused: Oh, Your father has ordered to go to forest. You can go. I shall go to my father’s house or I shall remain here. No. This is ideal wife. She must be prepared to accept any circumstances of the husband. Not that when the husband is rich the wife is very faithful, and when he has come down to be poor or he’s going to forest the wife gives up his company. No. Wife means better half. She must abide. Just like, it is said, just like a shadow follows the reality, similarly, the wife is the shadow of the husband. Wherever the husband goes, she must go. Whatever the husband wants, she must carry out. Of course, in this country this interpretation is taken differently, that wife is made a slave. But actually, it is not so. When Sita was kidnapped in the jungle, Ramacandra expected that, that she was beautiful, she was young, and We shall be in open jungle. It may be some demons may come, and actually it so happened. So for Sita, Lord Ramacandra massacred the whole family of Ravana. Only for Sita. So as the husband, so the wife. The wife was so faithful that she could not remain alone. She must accompany the husband even in the forest. And the husband was so faithful that, Oh, my wife has been kidnapped. So He massacred the whole family of Ravana.
So these are ideal history how… Ramacandra, Lord Ramacandra appeared on this world to educate or to place ideal example of a king. How the king should be. Therefore when there is good government… The example is given, Rama-rajya. Rama- rajya. It is the kingdom of Lord Rama. Because everyone was happy, everyone. There are so many instances in the life of Ramacandra. One brahmana… Not brahmana exactly. Somebody came to Ramacandra. Because at that time there was no court like this, that you have to go to a court and apply with stamp fee. Then your judgment will be delivered after six years. It is not like that. Anyone who has got some complaint, he should… The king used to sit in the open audience, and the citizens were allowed to approach the king and place their complaints. Because there was no complaint practically. Everyone was happy. Very minor complaint. So somebody came to Ramacandra, and he charged Ramacandra, My dear king, my son has died. How is that, in the presence of his father, son can die? There must be something wrong in Your government. Just see. The charge is Why my son has died before my death? This is unnatural. So there was nothing unnatural. The king was responsible even for severe cold, severe heat. That we get from history of Srimad-Bhagavatam. That is stated.
So the kings were so much responsible. They were always thinking of the happiness of the citizens, and the citizens were also so nice. One citizen approached Lord Ramacandra and His next assistant, His brother, Laknmana, informed Him that He is a brahmana. You were absent on Your tour for, I think for a fortnight or a month, and this brahmana has not eaten even a drop of water during Your absence. Why? Because he comes here to see You, darsana. Just like we come here in the temple to see the Deity. So Lord Ramacandra was present personally. So he used to come. After seeing Ramacandra, offering his obeisances, then he would go home and take something, his breakfast. That was his vow. And because he could not see for a fortnight or a month Lord Ramacandra because He was out on political tour, he did not eat even. Just see. The citizens were similar to the king. So at that time, there was a statue of Ramacandra which was being worshiped in the family from Maharaja Iknvaku. Maharaja Iknvaku, the son of Manu, happens to be the forefather of the family in which Ramacandra appeared. So he was devotee of Lord Rama, and he was worshiping the statue of Lord Rama. So that statue was being worshiped by the family one after another. But when Ramacandra was actually present He kept that statue in the closet of the room, and when this brahmana approached and Ramacandra was informed by Laknmana that he is so steady and strong in his vow, so Ramacandra ordered that he may be delivered that statue so that in My absence he can offer respect to the statue and do with this. That form, I mean to say, statue, or arca of Ramacandra is still existing in South India. It is being worshiped from that time.
So these were the dealings of Ramacandra. Then He, His younger brother Laknmana and His wife went to the forest, and His wife was kidnapped by the diplomacy of the demon Ravana, and there was fight between Rama and Ravana. Ravana was very, materialistically, he was very strong. But the thing is for fighting with Ravana, Ramacandra did not come back to His kingdom and take His army. No. He did not come back because He was ordered to live in the forest. So He organized army with the jungle animals, the monkeys. The monkeys. He fought with Ravana, an organized materialist, with the monkeys. You have seen the picture. And He constructed a bridge between India’s last point to the other side. Ceylon is considered to be the kingdom of Ravana. So there was a bridge, and the stones were floating.
So there are so many historical incidences in the life of Ramacandra, and we should remember, because if we remember why we are observing today fasting for Ramacandra… There were many kings like Ramacandra. Because the kings were trained in that way. Maharaja Yudhin hira was also as good as Ramacandra, and Maharaja Pariknit was as good. There were many such kings. But we are not concerned because He was a king. He is the King of all kings, paramesvara. Because He is God, therefore we are observing today. Ramadi-murtinu kala-niyamena tin han [Bs. 5.39]. So He is not original form of God. The original form of God is Kanna, and Kanna expands Himself in various other forms. Advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs. 5.33]. Ananta-rupam means millions and millions. The Manu is also incarnation of Kanna. So in one day of Brahma there are fourteen Manus. So Brahma lives for one hundred years. Just see how many incarnation of Manus are there even for one Brahma, and there are innumerable Brahmas also. So, as stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam that nobody can count how many incarnations are there, but some of the chief incarnations are mentioned, and Lord Ramacandra is one of them. So Lord Ramacandra, He killed Ravana and He installed his brother. His brother was devotee, Vibhinana. So He did not go to conquer Ceylon, because He was emperor. He went to punish that culprit Ravana, and He installed his younger brother Vibhinana in that… And He came back with Sita, and again He was installed after fourteen years, and His brother was so faithful that so long His eldest brother was away, Ramacandra requested Him that Your mother wants that You should be king, and I also wish that in My absence You should be king. Bharata, He was so faithful brother, He replied, No. You are king. So long You are living, nobody can be king. So I cannot be king. Then He requested, At least You administer. Because after the departure of Lord Ramacandra, Maharaja Dasaratha died out of the shock because Ramacandra was very pet son, eldest son. He was going to be king, and by his order He was sent to the forest. The father could not tolerate the shock. He died. So Ramacandra’s life, God’s activities, pastimes, if we hear, that means we are associating with Ramacandra.
There is no difference between His form, His name, His pastimes, and Himself. He’s absolute. Therefore either you chant the holy name of Rama or you see the statue of Rama or you talk of His pastimes,transcendental pastimes, everything, that means you are associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So we take advantage of these days when the incarnation of God appears or disappears, and we try to associate with Him. By His association we become purified. Our process is purification. Kanna consciousness means simply we are purifying our consciousness. From the birth, as I have explained, everyone is sudra. Sudra means one who laments. That is called sudra. For a slight loss or slight inconvenience, one who laments, he is called sudra. And brahmana means one who tolerates. A sudra has no toleration. So kalau sudra sambhava. Kalau means… This age is called Kali. So it is the statement of the sastras that in this age the whole population is sudra. And formerly also, by his birth, everyone was considered sudra, but there was training, samskara. At the present moment, there is no samskara, there is no training. The training is only for earning livelihood. No other training. How one can earn money and enjoy senses-that is the training at the present moment. But actually, to make successful the human life or the mission of human life, the Vedic culture is very nice. And by spreading Kanna consciousness, by adopting the process of Kanna consciousness, you can revive that cultural life, sublime life. If not wholesale, if there are a few people trained up in this line, and they become ideal examples to the society, immense benefit can be derived from their examples of life. What is time? [break]
(kirtana)
(end)
(A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 27th March 1969.
The Appearance day of Lord Rama – Ramanavami, Hawaii, USA.)
hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
Srila Sridhar Dev Goswami Maharaja says in Gradations of the Holy Name, “Hankering In Surrender Is Our Wealth.”
When we reach the highest position of disappointment, then sometimes, somehow or other, from the core of our heart we pray, “Oh Lord, I am helpless, save me! I am under the control of so many enemies in the form of friends. Such a hopeless position I hold, my Lord. From time immemorial I am serving all these masters, but they are not satisfied with my service. Now I find myself in this helpless position, my Lord. You should only come on Your own accord, and assert Yourself. Then they will fly away in fear of You. Otherwise I have no hope. This sort of ardent prayer from the core of the heart towards the Savior, that is what is necessary for us.
When we reach the highest position of disappointment, then sometimes, somehow or other, from the core of our heart we pray, “Oh Lord, I am helpless, save me! I am under the control of so many enemies in the form of friends. Such a hopeless position I hold, my Lord. From time immemorial I am serving all these masters, but they are not satisfied with my service. Now I find myself in this helpless position, my Lord. You should only come on Your own accord, and assert Yourself. Then they will fly away in fear of You. Otherwise I have no hope. This sort of ardent prayer from the core of the heart towards the Savior, that is what is necessary for us.
With our faith and earnestness we can aspire after that mercy. If we increase the quality of our negativity, the feeling that we are so low, the positive will be automatically attracted. We must try to increase the power of our position as a negative unit.
Trnad api sunicena (feeling lower than the grass), dainyam (humility), atmanivedana (surrender). Hankering in surrender is our wealth. We are the sakti, the potency, and potency refers to the negative unit of the Positive, the Potent. We should increase our negative side, our hankering. The Positive will be automatically attracted to us.
Whatever beautiful and valuable things we come across, we cannot but surrender ourselves to them. That is the criterion. If we find anything higher in our vicinity, our appreciation means surrendering unto that. According to the degree of our surrender, we have to measure what degree of quality of truth we have found. That can be measured only according to the degree and intensity of surrender, how much we can surrender to what we have found, to the point of no return. And the true devotees know no satisfaction or fulfillment. They feel no trace of satisfaction that they have achieved anything. Never. The inner sweetness of the truth and its infinite characteristic are such. The truth attracts. It can attract to the highest degree and magnitude.”
Devotee: Maharaja here it is mentioned that, “they feel no trace of satisfaction that they have achieved anything. Never.” So maharaja how can a devotee develop such attitude, not hankering for any achievement.
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja: By the grace of Krishna . Generally people don’t attempt to become depressed. They do not attempt to put themselves in situations, where they will be depressed. We have an inherent hankering for happiness. That is our nature. We want to be happy. Only problem is we are finding ourselves in a foreign environment. An environment in which, we cannot really become happy.
Because everything is being taken away from us, and ultimately whatever we endeavor for, that is temporary. So what kind of happiness can we have? Also here so many defects, i.e., birth, death, old age and disease are inflicting persons of this world. Achievement of happiness is very difficult here, impossible to achieve. So basically how to get depressed? So how to feel so depressed with this world so that we don’t want to do anything with it but only want Krishna’s mercy, to be in connection with Krishna through his mercy. How do we come to that position? That will depend on Krishna . One who is sincere, situation will be arranged such that the whole environment will feel in a negative way. Negatively influencing the devotee. And if we have no attraction for that, and only attraction for Krishna , and with a sincere heart praying dear Lord, “Kindly take me, Kindly take me to Your lotus feet. I have no desire to be here in anyway with any other being, any other person other than You. You, Your service, Your lotus feet is all that I desire. Your service is all that I desire. All other things are secondary, of secondary importance.”
Srila Prabhupad explained once that in his life he had a business, he had a family and had so many children and at one point he had gone to see his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and felt so much attraction for him. But anyhow he had to do his work and raise money for supporting his family and so forth. But after some time so many things began to happen, family problems and business problems, and finally he wanted to give that all up. It was not giving any pleasure, any satisfaction to him. He was not getting any success in this. He wanted to give up all of it. So he finally took sannyasa and he thought this is a great opportunity Krishna has given me to simply meditate, on the order of my spiritual master and carry that out. I don’t have to do anything with these any other type of attachments. So that type of depressive situation comes in the life of a devotee.
And Srila Prabhupad explains that, when Krishna takes everything away from his devotee, then he has received the mercy of Krishna . That is the direct mercy of Krishna. When Krishna takes everything away, then we are receiving the mercy of Krishna. Some people are thinking if I have everything, then I am receiving the mercy of Krishna. That I have a nice job, nice family, nice house, nice this, nice that, got nice car, I am successful in my life, then they think I got so much mercy. No! That may not be the real mercy of Krishna as much as one who is put into difficulty, great difficulty. He is giving up; he is forced to give up all that attachment. All material things, the sensuous objects of our existence, they are not that necessarily going to make us happy.
There are some deeper things in reality that we have to reach for. And the deepest thing is what Vaishnava is interested in. He is not interested in the superficial thing. He is interested in the deeper things. Those things, which cannot be attained by, the mere senses, sense satisfaction. They are far deeper than that. And the spiritual domain lies in there, in that region. What is beyond this world! This world, world of Mahamaya, this is one small portion, one universe out of countless millions of universes. And all these countless million material universes are like, each one is like a small mustard seed, in a bag of mustard seeds. How small is that seed, you can imagine this universe is like that. So even this whole universe is an insignificant thing from the higher perspective. And then beyond all this, bag of mustard seeds, there are the Vaikuntha planets. And there is much more extensive, the paravyoma, and yet beyond the paravyoma, there is the Krishnaloka, and all the sections, various provinces of that plane. So there is far more to understand than just this world and what is going on in this world and devotees are diving into that ocean. And that because is so far above our conception, our ability to conceive, our ability to deal with, that is over our head, far over our head, that has to come down to us only. We can’t go, expect to penetrate into that plane, unless it comes down and reveals itself to us.
And then whatever comes to us, we can only consider that as but a drop. Srila Rupa Goswami has written all those beautiful books on Rasa, Rasa-tattva. But he considered it to be only a drop of the nectar that is truly available, the highest plane. So like that. Devotees is characterized by extreme negativity, and Srila Sridhar Maharaja points out that this is the quality that distinguishes a real devotee from a so called Devotee who thinks ‘he has everything’, that we do not consider true devotion. True devotee thinks, “I have nothing”, that is the true devotee. That is the true symptom of the devotee. Who feels I am completely bereft of any taste, even taste for love of God.
na anuraga means, I have no taste even for your holy name, although your holy name, your form, they are so full of so much energy. Beautiful, wonderful, magnificent, unimaginable energies. But na anuraga, I have to attraction for that. Mahaprabhu is teaching how the mood of a devotee is. I remember Srila Sridhar Maharaja would tell us, “If someone comes bragging, I have some taste, I have some taste for that”, he would say never. We don’t accept that. We don’t accept anyone who says I am experiencing Krishna . That is not the mood of a genuine devotee. Because why? This is because we are dealing with the infinite. And as much as you think, you have some connection with the infinite, that finite has some grasp of infinite, then we can understand that is all bogus. You are finite, what kind of infinite you can grasp. How much of that infinite you are grasping is only an infinitesimal portion. That is not infinite, what you are having is only infinitesimal. That is not what we mean by the infinite. Infinite is above our grasp, beyond our grasp. If you have real connection with the infinite, you must recognize that. He does recognize that. More he recognizes, I have no grasp of that, then he has some grasp of it. That is the real infinite. We have no grasp of it. Then he is in touch. How much he can recognize that the infinite is too vast to have any, even meager touch of that, grasp of that, that is the infinite, we are talking about that.
Devotee: Maharaj there are devotees like Mirabai who have approached Krishna directly. What kind of achievement have they gotten, and how it is different from that of a surrendered devotee, who accepts the path of servant of servant of devotees.
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja: Anyhow there are different types of people in this world, achieving so many different levels of so-called happiness. So somehow or other, even by imagination one can enter into a stage of bliss. Here we have seen, people take some pill and they have become very happy. What is that called, hallucinogens. They become very happy, blissful, going here, going there like little fairies wandering around. And all of this is based on this pill. Or we have seen people become very happy, by having a lot of money and they have a big house and pools, and swimming pools and servants and so many things, beautiful gardens and they may think themselves very happy. And they may be happy. So happiness can therefore take many-many forms. It is not that people in this world can’t be happy, they can. But, we consider that happiness to be like water contained in a hoof print of a cow compared to the ocean of the infinite bliss, that is available for them. And that comes only through surrender to Krishna . So the yogis or persons like Mirabai, they may get their jollies by imaginary absorption in the infinite, thinking they have some connection with that, there may be some bliss in that.
Actually, from in the spiritual plane, there are so many forms of mukti. Sayujya mukti, Sarupya mukti, Salokya mukti – all these different forms of connection with Krishna, even merging in Krishna, other forms of happiness, they are all there, they are all available to any living entity, ye yatha mam prapadyate, tam tathaiyava bhajamamyaham, Krishna rewards them accordingly as they approach. Whatever they are looking for He gives. You want some happiness. Yes, I will give you. What form, whatever form you like, I have no problem in giving happiness. But then he tells Arjuna, “Whatever happiness you want, I can easily supply that.” But then He tells Arjuna, because you are special, because you are a very confidential friend of mine and I have much affection for you, I am telling, you don’t go in that direction of what you want. Don’t look for your pleasure. If you can come to this position, it will be your real thing. You will get real, unbelievable, unimaginable happiness. And that will be based upon your surrender to My desire.
Sure I can fulfill all your desires for happiness, but when you come to the point of surrendering to Me and thinking, “Oh! let me give up all this, my desire for my happiness. And come to the point of thinking, what do You want, O Krishna. You who are giving me all these things, what do you want. How do I please you, how do I serve you, how do I do I make You happy. That is called saranagati. Bhakti begins from there. I will now put my attention on what You want. What is Your desire, how I can serve You. Not that You will serve Me. I know all this time, I have been taking advantage, You are giving me food, shelter, everything. You have given me my body, my mind, my intelligence, all this is coming from You. Now I am realizing that. And I am thinking that all this time, I have been taking, taking and You have been giving without complaint. Without restrain, without restriction, You are giving everything. And now I am realizing that there is something more where from which all this is coming from. And I want to turn my attention there. And the only way I can do that, is as You have told me by surrender.
Krishna gives this hint, this instruction to His genuine devotee who comes by this method. Listen to Me, follow Me. Follow My direction, Follow My pleasure. Then you will understand what is real joy. The source of your joy, that source will have more joy than whatever that you have been receiving up to this point. In that way, surrender first. Means he recognizes, not my position, not my enjoyment, not my selfish position is important, but Your position is important. Your satisfaction is important. That is saranagati. Then he begins, how do I understand, what You want. How do I serve Your desire. That becomes the process of devotional service.
Devotee: Maharaja, a devotee, how can he know what Krishna wants from him?
HH Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja: That is through a devotee, who has surrendered to Krishna , who has surrendered to Guru. Through Guru he can understand, what is the desire of Krishna . Who has already surrendered to Krishna, Krishna utilizes that devotee for instructing us, how to get to that position. How to come to that direction? He is giving direction. Spiritual master, pure devotee is always going in that direction and he is calling others, you come. You want to go in this direction, here I am giving you the sequel what I have understood from my Gurudev. And you can also follow this direction. Don’t go in the other direction. And he is constantly encouraging us and if we are submissive to that, if we are attentive to that, if we have respect, faith and trust in that, what we are being told, what we are being guided, by the servant of the Lord, the agent of the Lord, then we could go in that direction also. We will be in good hands, we will be going in good direction.
And going in the direction that Krishna has given in scriptures and that even people who are reading scriptures, they cannot understand without this detailed instruction that we are being given through our Guru-Parampara. Otherwise nobody knows. People read these things, and they think O, I can surrender to Krishna , I can chant Hare Krishna. I can absorb my mind in Krishna and my business is finished. Let me feel some happiness from that. That is not all in all. There is more, always more. And only that more, more confidential, most confidential knowledge can come through the confidential servitors of the Lord and if one himself is a confidential servitor, he will enter into the company of those confidential devotees, who have also received that knowledge, also due to their sincere dedication, sincere self-sacrifice and freedom from all self-interest. They are getting that knowledge and they understand that, yes this is the direction I want to go. They are following their Gurudev’s instruction whole-heartedly, cent percent without deviation. They don’t feel themselves that they are free to do as they like.
They always feel that they are under the direction of their Gurudev and are strictly following that as much as they are able. They never feel that I have reached some level of realization. They never feel I don’t need Guru. Not like that. Now I can set up my own centers, my own temples, institutes, whatever they want to setup on their own, NO! Never. I am always under the direction of Gurudev. Under the direction of the saints, vaisnavas. And only if they give direction, then I will do. Otherwise I don’t move. I have no choice, no freedom.
Srila Rupa Goswami has written that anyabhilasita sunyam, jnana karma adi anavrtam, anukulyena krishna anusilena bhaktira uttama. This is a very important verse Srila Rupa Goswami has given in his Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu. This is the meaning of pure devotion. anyabhilasita sunyam, jnana karma adi anavrtam, anukulyena krishna anusilena bhaktira uttama, Prabhupada calls this as first class devotional service.
So this anyabhilasita sunyam, anyabhilasita means those things that directed away from Krishna consciousness, other than Krishna consciousness, other than Krishna directed activities, for material desires. sunyam means without, without all that, negation of all that. anyabhilasita sunyam, that is what is free from anyabhilasita. What is free from material or activities other than Krishna consciousness, that is the first qualification. In other words, who has no interest in mundane activities. This is the first qualification of pure devotee.
Then jnana karma adi anavrtam. anavrta means covered. And jnana means monistic knowledge. Knowledge of advaita vedanta or knowledge for liberation, that is jnana. And karma means fruitive activity. adi and things like that – who is interested in knowledge that has nothing to do with service, who is interested with fruitive activities that has nothing to do with service, and any other things that have nothing to do with service. Such as other things means renunciation, yoga, study of the samkhya just to acquire knowledge, which is devoid of devotional intent, all activities that are considered devoid of devotional mood, they are considered coverings over the real things that we are after. Which are anukulyena krishnanusilanam. krishnanusilanam means favorable service – cultivation of service relationship with Krishna .
And anukulyena means favorably. Everything other is considered covering of that favorable service of Krishna, that does not have Krishna in the center. And this is called bhaktir uttama. This is what is the highest stage of devotion, which has those characteristics. Srila Rupa Goswami, also gives what is favorable – to associate with devotees, to avoid association of non-devotees. To always consider oneself, meek and humble. To accept everything as mercy of the Lord and to have no interest other than that of the Lord’s, that is considered favorable practices. Translation, “When first class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge obtained by monistic philosophy and fruitive activity. The devotee must constantly serve Krishna favorably as Krishna desires.” So favorably actually means what Krishna desires. And not what other considerations that we may have. What is Krishna ‘s desire, we want to serve with that mood. Not what I want. That will be favorable.
