How awesome is Gauranga
Now we will read a little bit from Caitanya Bhagavata. A wonderful book. I had so many experiences , sharing Caitanya Bhagavata with others, and it has been so amazing actually. People have gotten so many wonderful experiences, just from our reading Caitanya Bhagavata together. It is really unbelievable. Even by video - when people are watching these videos and we are just chanting the glories of Lord Caitanya, they have reported amazing things. So I’m just so happy. I feel like my life on this planet is a success already. I just keep getting more and more successful for all those few people, and that’s not a lot of people listening, just those few that Lord Caitanya is calling. It seems like only a few really treasure Lord Caitanya’s association at this time. They don’t know its real value. Most people don’t know, they think: “Oh, getting liberated from the cycle of birth and death, how important is that?” A lot of people don’t know that. Even as devotees, they may not have faith that this is even important. But anybody who gets an attraction to Lord Caitanya by hearing His glories becomes eternally liberated. That’s what Lord Brahma says in Srimad Bhagavatam. Anybody who invinces the symptoms of ecstacy – crying, tears, choking of the voice, heart-throbbing, waves of humility – so many devotional symptoms that come, that person does not take another birth, they can enter the kingdom of God where so many beings are also experiencing the same thing. They have the inclination to glorify God. This happens also by the grace of Lord Caitanya. So anybody not interested in that grace is very unfortunate actually. Very unfortunate. I am not putting all these videos up here just for my own self-glorification. I’m putting it up just to make people happy. Because I have already seen those few, that are listening to these classes develop spiritual symptoms. I’m just saying this to emphasize that this is so wonderful. It is so wooorth it. I feel very blessed that the Lord is utilizing this person, this fallen rascal, this insignificant person, that people who hear are willing to listen, are having these kinds of experiences. This lady, Natha, she listened and she developed the ability to see Radha and Krishna in the deity form – see the love that They have and relish that. That’s what the gopis do – they look at the love between Radha and Krishna and relish that. She would sit in the temple in Mayapur for two hours daily - marvelling, relishing and crying for two hours with a shawl over her face. She is just a simple lady who was a mayavadi before that. The grace of Lord Caitanya came upon her, just by hearing Caitanya Bhagavat daily with fixed attention. But most devotees don’t know this, even those who have been devotees for twenty, thirty years. That this simple woman who now reads Caitanya Caritamrta, buckets of tears come down in her eyes because of some unknown grace has come upon her from hearing Caitanya Bhagavat. This is the glories of Lord Caitanya and hearing His lila, not to do with anybody chanting it. Then I use the idea, that the lady in Russia, who was told by her guru, who even fell down, to write a book about Lord Caitanya. She did, sincerely wrote a book even though she was just a neophyte. Because that book was glorification of the supreme absolute truth, Lord Gauranga and His associates, it awakened bhakti in these Russian devotees who read and chanted the verses of that book. They said, “Wow, we feel this devotion, what is this? We never experienced anything like this. This is the potency of Lord Caitanya. That’s the preaching of Prabhodanandana Sarasvati, who says things like that. This is really real. This is really true and this has been my own personal experience and this is the experience of those few who are listening to the glories of Lord Caitanya. I can’t emphasize this avatar enough! Just like this devotee who manue(?) cannot emphasize the importance of Lord Caitanya. This is why he comes up with verses like this: “Whether seen, touched, glorified, remembered, bowed down to from afar or worshipped, Sri Caitanya gives the nectar of pure love for Sri Krishna to His devotees. Let me glorify SrI Caitanya, the merciful supreme personality of Godhead. ” (This is Prabhodanandana Sarasvati Thakur’s poetry) So let’s go over this verse again and see how it applies practically to real time now. “Whether seen, touched, glorified, remembered, or bowed down to from afar…” See, when Lord Caitanya disappeared, Prabhodanandana Sarasvati Thakur said that this still can happen. Krishna Das Kaviraja and Vrindavana Das Thakur said the same thing. Just by hearing the glories of the Lord from the devotees, those who are natural devotees – if we have developed a little faith in Lord Caitanya, pure devotion to the Lord, pure love of Krishna is given . It was given to that lady. This simple lady from Germany was a mayavadi, but she had a little faith to listen to the glories of Lord Caitanya. Such a boon was given to her. She chants Krishna’s name once and she cries. She chants Gauranga’s name once and she cries. And this is from the heart. She is just a simple person, not looking for anything. Because she focuses on Lord Caitanya sincerely, He gives her love of God. This is what many devotees have lost sight of. They think, “Oh, this love of God, it is only going for the uttama Vaisnavas.” That’s not the mercy of Lord Caitanya. That’s not the explanation of these Vaisnavas. No, this is for the most fallen souls, who take shelter of Lord Caitanya somehow or other. Who hear the glorification of Lord Caitanya and His associates with just a little faith will get this love of God. This is the preaching of these devotees. Prabhupada came and gave the platform. Now everyone knows that Krishna is God, that Lord Caitanya is God. So once we know that, now we will just take that faith that They are God and hear Their glories, especially Lord Caitanya’s glories – become His follower, become His devotee, and He will give the nectar of pure love. Just like He has given to quite a few persons that I have seen already. That’s why I glorify Lord Caitanya so much. Because those who get this, how important it is, begin to become His devotee and His follower. They get this highest nectar, which was not even given to Lord Brahma or those who have been doing austerities for many, many lifetimes. They get this free, just by becoming a devotee. Krishna Das Kaviraja says, “This nectar of love of God is given to anyone who falls down at the feet of Lord Nityananda. He is not looking at who is qualified and who is not. The only qualification is to just fall down at the feet of Lord Nityananda with simple, sincere faith. “Oh Lord, please save me!” And He will give this love of God. And when one gets it, one is saved. And then one becomes an instrument for the Lord’s grace. This is the idea of being a witness for the grace. The preaching of those who have no love, no connection , and no real faith in Lord Caitanya, are doing motivated devotional service. Because it’s a good job and they can make money doing it. It has no effect really. It doesn’t awaken bhakti. Until the devotees understands, “Oh, let me find those who have been touched by the grace of Lord Caitanya and associate with them. “ That’s how Jesus is propagated; it’s propagated , but not by eclisiastical ministers and heads of churches. This holy spirit is propagated by those who have been touched by Jesus and are used by Jesus. Been used by the acarya. That’s the principle of Vaisnavism. Being used by the real disciplic succession. Krishna Das Kaviraja said, “Thos who follow the real path of the acarya of Lord Caitanya, have Lord Caitanya in their heart as their life and soul. It gives them life. They are the real followers. So they are the real useful instruments to the disciplic succession. You listen to them and you get this kind of devotion. Because they are authorized to distribute it. Not necessarily a person who has a big title, ‘acarya’. So if we are following a big title person and we are not getting the love the love and attraction for Lord Caitanya, then better go to somebody who has no title. This is why Lord Caitanya often works through these nobodys. But if I am attracted to go and follow an acarya because he has a lot of followers, thinking, “Oh, he will give me sannyasa and then I can also do the same thing. “ Well, they are for those kinds of persons. But those who are greedy for love of God will go to wherever it is being dispensed. Those who are given the intelligence to know where it is being dispensed go there. Because even though there is no title being offered, there is no money being offered, there is no position. Often there is nothing but criticism being offered. Those who were followers of Jesus at that time, there was nothing but criticism being offered when everyone turned against him. He even said, “You are not going to be able to pass this test the first turn around. Everybody is going to turn against me because my teachings are very tough, they are on a very high level. Nobody can understand them. Therefore you are going to fall down.” He prophesized. They all did. When these people who turned against him said, “Are you a follower of Jesus? “ “Oh, no, no!” Even Peter, one of the greatest saints had problems too at first – predicted. “No, no I am not his follower, don’t kill this body, I won’t admit to it. “ And he felt very ashamed afterwards, he recovered. Jesus said, “You will recover, because you have love for me.” Anyone who has real love for real devotees, like Prabhupada may fall down, but they will get up again. Because of that love. Krishna will help them later. I had so many problems in my devotional service and I still probably will haveproblems. There are these little things, like I occasionaly want to watch a movie, and I don’t feel good about it… I am not perfect. But if there is any love at all for Prabhupada’s feet, and love for the real acaryas like Bhaktivinode Thakur and Bhaktisiddhanta, taking shelter of their books and their grace – Prabhupadas’s books, I will get up again. I know that – I have seen that already in my life. And it just gets easier, you get stronger. So anybody who has problems, don’t worry about it. Just hang in there, and if you fall on your face, just pick yourself up and keep going. This is the idea. Jesus was walking to the cross – this is an esoteric meaning – he had this cross on his back – we all carry our own cross. We pick it up. He said, “He who follows me has to carry his cross.” Well, we all got one. We fall on our face maybe, we have problems, we get in bad association. we might get miserable, we do the wrong things, we get egg on our face – that’s our cross. But just get up and keep going. Stay around devotees who inspire us.
Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya said, “Those persons who continue to worship You (Lord Caitanya), enduring the reactions to their karma, the sinful reactions from our previous activities, become a bonafide candidate for Your mercy.” So we will become a bonafide candidate for Lord Caitanya’s mercy if we continue to worship Him in spite of our karma. Don’t run away. Don’t give up the process. Even if we do, the Lord is so kind that He will bring us back. This devotional service is amazing -the greatest thing. This is why we can have great faith, just by seeing the deity form, just by touching the deity form, just by glorifying Lord Caitanya. Whether I am here now or I was back there five hundred years ago, the power of this glorification is as effective then as it is now, as it is forever. That was Paul’s realization about Jesus. Jesus was the same then when he was here, he is the same now as he was preaching, and he is the same forever as he is being preached and glorified. That potency of the holy spirit will come. It is a devotional principle of bhakti. This is why I utilize the examples in the Bible, because it helps make these principles more clear and real in our lives – so that we can have faith in them. And then the bhakti flows. People will start having awakenings of love for Krishna, love for Lord Caitanya. Just like I mentioned, that lady, by Lord Caitanya’s grace, by hearing His pastimes every day when we were in Mayapur, the grace came upon her and she developed love for Radha and Krishna. Ahe could appreciate it like the gopis when she was sitting there. And she didn’t know anything about the gopis and how they appreciate Radha and Krishna. Spontaneously it came. She sat there and she looked at Radha and Krishna and that mercy came. She saw, “Look at this love, it is so wonderful!” She came back to me and described it all. I said, “You don’t even know what grace has been bestowed upon you. “ The devotees gave her a chair there in the temple and she would just sit there for two hours. Can you imagine sitting two hours and looking at the deity”? She would put a shawl over her head, crying. Looking at that love between Them - she was seeing it . This is what can be bestowed upon those who hear the lila of Lord Caitanya with just a little faith. Great mercy – available. So that’s the mercy of Lord Caitanya.
“One morning Lord Gauracandra worshipped Lord Vishnu in the temple and after doing so He quickly went to see the devotees. He told them: “Last night I had a wonderful dream. A chariot came and stood before My door – its flag, having the design of a palm leaf. I could understand that this chariot was meant to carry one from this material world to the absolute reality. The passenger was a huge figure, holding a plow on his shoulder. He moved about as if he were very restless. In hIs left hand he carried a water pot made of cane. He dressed in blue and wore a beautiful earring in his left earlobe. His appearance and demenor gave me the impression that he is Lord Balarama. Again and again he inquired, “Is this the house of Nimai Pandit?” Never before had I seen such a formidable looking mendicant. With great respect I said, “I can see that you are a great personality. Who are you?” He said: ”I am Your brother. Tomorrow we shall get to know one another.“ I was delighted to hear this speech and indeed I began to feel that he and I are the same person. “ In the middle of this narration the Lord went into an ecstatic trance, entering the mood of Lord Balarama. He began to roar and shouted, “Bring me wine, bring me wine. His thundering voice seemed to burst the eardrums. Srivas Thakur listened and said, “Listen my dear Lord, the wine that You want is not to be found anywhere, still, You and others will be able to have it if You distribute it. “ This is actually a very, very deep esoteric statement. So what is the nature of wine? You get a little tipsy and inroxicated,right? It makes you feel really good and loose and jovial generally. But if you drink the wine of this world, what happens is that there is an effect – we can get addicted to it and it has negative effect, it does bad things to the body. We become horrible persons usually, we end up doing real damage to our lives. That’s the effect of intoxication in this world. Now, what is the wine of this world a reflection of? See, everything in this world id a perverted reflection and it exists in its pure form in the spiritual world. So that wine that Lord Caitanya is really asking for – He is saying “Bring Me wine, bring Me bhakti. Bring Me devotional service. This is what I want.” The effective stage of devotional service - hearing, chanting, and remembering also has an intoxicating effect. One becomes very loose. As a matter of fact, if you want to know some of the qualities of a real devotee, they also become very relaxed, very loose. Relaxed, peaceful, jovial, joking. See, these are all qualities of devotees who are drinking that kind of wine, the wine of bhakti. Those who are drinking deeply the wine of bhakti, devotional service, if they are drinking really deeply, people might consider them drunk. This is the idea if we are chanting the holy name and the devotional symptoms start appearing – the laughing and crying etc.,if you are not experiencing these symptoms you either get envious, jealous, start criticize – all these bad things start come out of the person. Or you might think, “Oh, look at this person, he is drunk, what did he smoke before he did this?” But there is no smoking involved or drinking anything other than real bhakti. The ability to relish the qualities of Krishna. That’s what’s involved and that has this effect. But if we are not expert, if we are just neophytes, we might think, “Oh, that looks like intoxication.” We don’t know this higher platform and how to detect what is really pure and what is on the spiritual platform. This is what Lord Caitanya came to teach us. What is the bhakti of Vrindavan. Everybody there is drunk on bhakti. Those gopis, when they hear Krishna calling them through the authorized messenger, the flute, what happens? They get intoxicated, they are just stumbling about, intoxicated from hearing that call. And they are putting their clothes on like a drunk person, the wrong way. That’s what happens to them. This is described in the Vedas. But are they illegally intoxicated? No, they are legally intoxicated. See, drinking the draft of bhakti is legal intoxication - like they have legal marijuana. But this is more legal, because those who are smoking legal marijuana still have karma, even though society says it’s okey for those persons. I was over at Venice Beach and I saw what they are doing. They are just selling this thing from the doctor so that people can get intoxicated with grass. But it’s not really legal and the Lord catches them. The laws of nature catch them by making them addicts, suffering somehow or other. We cannot surpass the laws of nature and the laws of God. Only devotees can. But they don’t need to smoke grass or any of those things because they smoke Krishna. They drink Krishna’s qualities and characteristics and get a little tipsy. And it’s good – no karma. Just liberation, it liberates the soul. So this is what Lord Caitanya is really calling for. Now Srivas Thakur says a very esoteric thing. He says, “ That wine that You are asking for is not available. “ This is the bhakti that even the devotees didn’t have access to. Then the Lord says, “Until you distribute it, you and others will get it. Even included the Lord. A very deep statement. What does that mean? The Lord goes back to the main purpose of the Lord’s own decent. Not just to distribute hari nama, sankirtan – that comes along with it. It’s a side-effect. He came to relish bhakti, relish the taste of it. So SrIvas Thakur is very intelligent. He says, “You will get it when You start distributing it. Because the way of teaching and distribution of Lord Caitanya is to taste it. He was relishing the qualities and characteristics of Krishna and at the same time preaching. Now, that is real preaching. That’s why Prabhodanandana Sarasvati Thakur said, “Where is that kind of devotional service that Lord Caitanya propagated in this world? I don’t see it anywhere anymore, except with Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. But in other places something else it taught. Blind adherence to rules and regulations is taught and isn’t that what most devotees are doing? Are they doing it because they are enthusiastically relishing the qualities of Krishna? No, because the guru says to do it and the sastra says to do it and they know that if they don’t do it, they are going to go to hell. That’s the motivation of vaidi bhakti. But Prabhodanandana Sarasvati Thakur says, “Oh, where is that devotion that Lord Caitanya demonstrated, preached, and relished?” That’s why Srivas Thakur says, “When You begin distributing it by tasting it and relishing those qualities Yourself in the mood of the greatest devotee of Krishna – Radharani – then You will get it and we will get it. And others will get it. That’s the wine You are really asking for. “ But who can understand Lord Caitanya and Balarama? Only the real devotees like Srivas Thakur, or any real devotee of Lord Caitanya who understands the deeper meaning of what They say. Otherwise it could be mistaken. People of the world might think when they hear, “Bring Me wine.” “Is this Lord Caitanya a drunkard or what?” This is why, when the Lord descends, He has to come with His devotees. To help out the situation because only they know Him. Like Srivas Thakur knows Him. He knows what that wine is. It’s not the wine of this world, it’s the wine of the spiritual world.
I will read this statement again because it is very deep and important. “Anyone who understands this statement will develop a deep appreciation for Lord Caitanya. “ Srivas Thakur said, “Listen my Lord, the wine that You want is not to be found anywhere. See, before Lord Caitanya distributed it, it was not anywhere to be seen. Where is Radharani to be seen in this world? Only where Radharani is relishing Her relationship with Krishna. That was in Vrindavan five-thousand years before that. But now Lord Caitanya was here in that mood. “Still,You and others will be able to have it if You distribute it.” See, thisis the idea. A real preacher of raganuga bhakti has to be tasting it. Otherwise it will not be distributed. This is why often devotees on the vaidi bhakti platform do not get this wine in their whole life. They will continue on the vaidi bhakti platform. For one reason they will not listen to a raganuga bhakti devotee, they cannot make the distinction. Many of them and all of us, how much envy and jealousy we still have in our hearts – competition, anger, hatred, and sectarianism. All of these are obstacles. Bhaktivinode Thakur said, “All of these have to be killed to get real bhakti. To follow the path of attachment to Krishna. But these obstacles, these demons can be killed by being favorable to the preaching of a person who tastes real bhakti. To like to hear from those kinds of devotees who preach by relishing. Tasting real bhakti. But think about it, if we see devotees who are laughing and crying and acting like drunken on bhakti, most of us will not follow, thinking, “Oh, there is something weird with that devotee. “ Isn’t that true? Isn’t that the situation? Lets’s put ourselves back five-hundred years and look at these devotees. You see them and this is what people would do at first – they were laughing at them and thinking they were weird. “Who are they, they are crazy, they are drinking wine. Look at them, they are intoxicated, they are drinking wine. Look at them, they are intoxicated, they are drinking wine in their rooms. They are saktas – Siva-worshippers who smoke pot and drink wine to get something. So they were thinking like this. We cannot detect. Prabhupada came, Bhaktisiddhanta also – they preached to teach us about Krishna to the stage that we are able to understand. But what is their real deeper intention? Their intention is to get us to the point to where we are favorable to a real devotees of Lord Caitanya and Radha-Krishna. Who are stumbling around like the gopis. They can’t put on their clothes straight because they are drunk on bhakti. If we can become favorable, if we can detect it, “Oh, look this is a devotee - he is not drunk on wine, he is drunk on the glories of the Lord. Oh, it is very good to be around them. This is why Lord Caitanya said to Nityananada, who was at first very grave, a very composed, silent sage, manifest externally bhakti. So when he wasn’t manifesting his natural behavior, people couldn’t see it, therefore they couldn’t take full benefit of Nityananda’s presence. And Nityananda could not take full benefit either. See, you have to relish bhakti, that’s how it is being distributed. That’s how others get happy and that’s how one is happy themselves first. That’s why the Lord’s desire is to distribute it and then come to the point where they are favorable to see His devotees stumbling around, relishing devotional mellows. “Oh, look at this devotee, how wonderful, I just feel so attracted, I like that too. That’s the whole point of Prabhupada’s preaching, not to keep us on the platform of vaidi bhakti. It is to learn what is the qualities of real devotees, what is this bhakti, oh let me be favorable to it. But it’s not easy. See, even the devotees in Vaikuntha – when Gopa Kumara was exhibiting externally this kind of bhakti in Vaikuntha on a liberated platform , the devotees of Vaikuntha also didn’t understand it. They pulled him down from the altar when he was embracing Gopal – they would never do this. Isn’t it the same thing with any of us? Would any of us go on the altar and embrace Krishna? Not even a raganuga devotee would do it because people would kill him. The pujaris would think this is a great offense and throw him down. They tried to do that with Nityananda, but it didn’t work because He even jumped on the altar. This is the raganuga devotees. See where it is all leading? This is deep stuff. Nityananda jumped on the altar and took the garland off Krishna and put it around His own neck. The pujaris at first thought, “What is this? This is herasy. This devotee is crazy!” They jumped on the alter themselves and grabbed Him – and they were thrown back ten feet. And it is said that these pujaris were strong as elephants – protectors of Lord Jagannath. But they were thrown back ten feet. So then they knew that this person was authorized. Nityananda is God Himself. So even raganuga devotees like Prabhupada often hold themselves back because people are not ready to understand such things, this consciousness. They get offended, or they get envious and jealous. But if we don’t see this kind of devotional service in some life-time and become favorable to it, we won’t be able to relish it. See, it has to be distributed at some point. Distributed – that means that the devotee has to relish it and give it to others the way they get it. This is the idea of sankirtan – devotees relish devotional service through chanting – tears come, ecstasy come. So by distributing that, then others will think, “Oh, this is very nice.” But most people, when they see devotees chanting, crying and laughing, they might get offended, angry, or confused. They will think that this person is a sahajya. So even now it’s very difficult to distribute bhakti. But those who somehow or other become favorable to it, they will also get it. Like Lord Caitanya said to Nityananda when He gave the sign – He said, “If You don’t get more wild, how are You going to accomplish Your mission.” What was His mission? Same thing . To taste bhakti and at the same time distribute it. To taste raganuga bhakti. To taste raga, rasa and distribute it at the same time. “If you don’t get more wild” – what is the meaning of getting more wild? That means distributing it. See, devotees who relish bhakti are wild. The kind of devotion that Lord Caitanya gives makes one a wild person. Wild and even reckless. So Lord Caitanya says, “You go and get a little more wild and be real – be Yourself. Be like You are in Vrindavan. Share that mood with others and those who are favorable to it will get this kind of bhakti.” Haridas says, “Oh, this Nityananda is crazy! Look at Him now.” (He got the order from Lord Caitanya.)So Haridas is in a playful and jovial mood glorifying Nityananda, and he does it in the way of criticism. So we have to understand the deep meaning of these devotees. So he says, “Ah, this Nityananda sent me out preaching with Him and what happens! People want to beat me because He goes under the cow and He starts drinking milk with the calf - right from the udder. He steals milk from other people’s cows that don’t even belong to Him. Of course everything belongs to Nityananda - He is God. But the people were confused at this. “People want to beat me because of my association with Nityananda. He walks up to a young girl and says, “Will you marry Me?” The young girl says, “This is crazy!” But He does things like that – it seems silly. But isn’t that the truth? Isn’t that what everyone of us - whether we are male or female – are meant to do? To marry God. So in a very joking way He is playing in Navadvipa. Those who begin to like that mood of Nityanada, they get this mercy. Anyone who like these devotees and take their shelter in spite of their unusual behavior gets that kind of mercy. Anyone who likes the realizations of such devotees who are authorized – but they are going to be different– then the realizations of the standard vaidhi bhakti devotees who have no realization at all really unless they have got love of God – without love of God one does not have any substantial realization yet. Bhaktivinode Thakur had love of God. Therefore his realizations were deep like an ocean. And they give shelter and mercy and bhakti to those who take shelter of them. Prabhupada’s realizations too – and all devotees. So we have to become favorable to the realizations of the devotees.
When Jesus was preaching, he had 72 disciples at first and he was preaching very deep and esoteric things. See, when Lord Caitanya said, “Bring Me wine”, you have to know the deep meaning, you have to have faith in Lord Caitanya, otherwise you will think that this person is a drunk. Well, it happened with Jesus. He said, “Do you want to be my follower and be related to me, you’ve got to eat my flesh and drink my blood. “ Could you imagine hearing that? It was a test. Only those who loved Jesus, who were surrendered to him stayed. So out of 72, most of them said, “Oh, this is too tough of a teaching.” In other words, they didn’t really love Jesus. So they left. They said, “Well, we liked you before, but we don’t agree with you and we don’t understand what you are saying so we are going.” They left. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Why are you not leaving?” They said, “Where are we going to go? You have the words of life.” See, they were advanced enough to know that was Jesus taught and what he said, even though they didn’t understand it, gave them life and inspiration. That’s a test of a real disciple. They know at least that much. Any devotee, like Bhaktivinode Thakur, Srila Prabhupada – any devotee that has the mercy of Lord Caitanya, we will understand them fully. It is just natural. Those Varanasi sannyasis who got the mercy of Lord Caitanya became converted. They left their mayavadi philosophy. They found something better – when they heard from Lord Caitanya. One of the disciples of Prakashanda Sarasvati Thakur, who was almost as learned as his own guru said, “We listened to Lord Caitanya and we don’t fully understand Him, a lot of things He said we never even heard before – no one had heard before, not even vaisnavas had heard before, but we accept Him for one reason, one quality – we feel so happy, so enlivened just to listen to His words. Even though we don’t understand them, but because they are giving us a bliss and an ecstasy beyond even the Brahman discussions that we were having.” The speculative Brahman talks which gave them some happiness and some ecstasy. You get liberation. “When we listen to Lord Caitanya, even though we don’t Him, we feel inspired. We feel happy, we feel purified – we don’t know why. We don’t even know what He said.” That’s the quality to look for when you hear from devotees. Not to leave them or reject them because we don’t understand or because we think we know better. No, better say, “Look, I don’t understand what he is saying, but I sure feel good. “ This is sastra, we point out. Because a lot of devotees are confused and they don’t know that when they associate with real vaisnavas why they feel so good – even though they don’t understand what they are talking about.
I was giving classes every day for four months in Navadvipa – this German lady, Nata got to the point, even though she was relishing the love between Radha and Krishna in the temple, crying and crying – I kept asking her - it’s on the videos, “Do you understand what we are talking about? And she answered, “No, I don’t understand anything.” But she was crying buckets of tears. Not that I am anything, but we are just glorifying Lord Caitanya and His realizations. And I am just repeating them like a parrot. And she is crying bucket of tears. I kept asking her, “What are we discussing? What is the point?” “Well, I don’t understand anything.” You see how it works? It doesn’t matter. We are listening to vaisnavas. We are listening to the glories of the Lord, even if they are being preached by a low-class imbacill like myself. But somehow or other I have this faith, just keep speaking about Lord Caitanya these kinds of effects happen. She said, and it’s just like back then, “I don’t understand anything.” But all these tears are coming and what happened in the temple – all these amazing things happening. Even now she reports., Oh yea, I read about Lord Caitanya but I don’t understand it.” Do you think that the gopis or anybody in Vrindavan understands Krishna? They don’t understand anything about Krishna, but they love Him, they have affection. They don’t even understand anything He says. Like mother Yasoda and mother Sachi often does not understand their son? He is speaking all these esoteric things. She doesn’t understand, but she still loves to hear Him speak. This is the idea – to become attracted to devotees. Through that attraction we become attracted to Krishna, attracted to the glories and characteristics of Krishna by those who have some attraction to Him. This is the process. Even though we may not understand. The attraction is the most important thing. The enlivenment. If I can hear from a devotee who is speaking rightly, I should feel enlivened if I have some faith in what they say. I feel enlivened, I feel purified, I feel happy. That’s the thing. See, this is what happened to those disciples of Jesus, and this is actually to help us understand the test involved also. We may hear from a vaisnava like Jesus. So the disciples of Jesus heard Christ’s preaching and they were very enlivened by it. The twelve that stayed. But Jesus said, “You watch, public opinion is going to turn against me. And you are still a little weak so you will not have faith in me. You will just hear some people critisize my preaching and you will not trust your heart. You will not trust your enlivenment. And you will listen to those stupid fools over there who are envious and jealous of me. They are listening to the Pharisees and are being contaminated. “ The people in general become contaminated by the snakes. The snakes are often the religious leaders, those who are in prominent positions – they turn against the real devotees because they are competitive, envious and jealous. And they hide their real orders. So many people are listening to those people, who go against the real acaryas even. The real devotees. They ‘pu pu’ their orders and everything. People listen to them and become contaminated. And then they lose their connection with the real devotees. So that happened with the disciples of Jesus. So those who have ears will hear because they will be able to relate it to bhakti. Because this is exactly what happens. It’s the test. So the disciples of Jesus were enlivened by hearing the preaching of Jesus all the time, but yet the Pharisees came around and they were actually competative and jealous in their heart. They were not pure devotees of God, not empowered yet. They still had these obstacles and they were under the maya still. And they preached against Jesus very craftily, very subtly, and diminished the glories of Jesus . And anyone who believed their preaching – and that was the twelve who did, lost faith in Jesus. And then they lost their potency. They all felt it. From being lions, they all became back to being mouses again. They became fearful, but that was their lesson. They reflected, “Oh look, I was listening to Jesus and I felt like a lion. We could do miracles and we could do healings and everything. But then we listened to the public and what happened? We lost everything. “ This was the teaching of Prabhupada. He told his disciples, “Don’t go here and there and everywhere. You found the real path.” The devotee is the way the life and the truth. The real vaisnava, the uttama vaisnava is the way, the life and the truth. You listen to them, you stay with and you get Krishna. But if you find that way and then you depart from that way because you listened to the maya, the test, the snake – snakeobstacle. You listen to another preaching. Then you depart. Like Jesus said to his disciples, “Apart from me you have no life. If you depart from me you look like you are a follower but you are not. You are like a branch – outstretched, that’s withered, with no life.” Anyone who departed from Prabhupada is also like that. And I won’t even mention how people depart from Prabhupada. But if they have ears they will know. Because I know how I departed from Prabhupada. A real vaisnava, like Jesus. The same kind of empowerment. Those who have ears will hear and can apply everything in real time. It is not necessarily mentioned specific examples that may offend different vaisnavas on different platforms of devotional service. But those who have ears will hear. See, Jesus preached in parables, so that those who heard were not offended. But then the disciples who trusted Jesus came to him personally and said, “What is the meaning of this parable? “ And he said, “Because you are taking shelter of me, you are my friends and my servants, my supporters and well-wishers, this purport is given to you but not to others.” Now this is the teaching and we are going to get into this in the introduction to Sri Krishna Samhita very soon because I love because I love this introduction. The essence of very deep teachings of bhakti are in there. Bhaktivinode Thakur said, “The swanlike preachers like Jesus and Prabhupada understand the deeper purport of the Vedas, the esoteric meaning. So they use that and those who understand this deeper purport should utilize that purport and understanding for their own advancement. And to go further, for the advancement of those who are non- envious. Those who trust ones preaching. That’s what Jesus did – he gave parables to the people in general. Because they would get offended if they would hear the real truth on a high platform of devotional service. And this is what I share with the devotees out there who somehow or other may understand what I am talking about. If you understand the deeper purports of what Prabhupada is teaching, distribute those purports judistially, because that’s in enlignment with our real deeper meaning of our sastras. Otherwise people will get offended and they will be disturbed and they will also disturb your bhakti. I know from experience. I was disturbed many times because I was sharing things that were only meant for the ears of those who may trust what I am sharing and preaching. I am learning gradually. We all have to learn this lesson. Because this is what our acaryas teach. There are many multifarious paths and platforms of devotional service. So if we know some of the deeper purports by the grace of elevated souls and the Lord gives us that revelation, utilize it for your own advancement and share it judisially with others. In this way everyone is happy and not disturbed – too much. Sometimes Jesus spoke in parables to the Pharisees. But they had this crafty intelligence and they figured it out and they said, “He is speaking about us!” They got offended and they came after him. They wanted to kill him when they realized it. So Jesus was speaking in parables and they figured out that it was about them. They got very angry and they wanted to kill him. This is the misunderstanding. If devotees on a higher platform than ourselves preach on that higher platform and we are on a lower one, we cannot understand what they are talking about. We misunderstand it. We think that the rope they are throwing us is a snake. That’s the way it is. They wanted to beat Lord Caitanya with sticks in the temple when He came there, preaching raganuga bhakti by demonstration. By relishing and then falling down in ecstasy. They said, “This is a disturbance. Let’s beat him with sticks.”
These are some of the deep principles of bhakti yoga. Many esoteric things came out in this class, in this talk. And I feel very grateful to you all for listening and allowing me to speak so that I can purify my heart. And we all get purified, the speaker and the listeners. Even though this talk is ignited by a low class person like me, who sometimes likes to go and watch a movie or two. Keeps me humble, otherwise I would probably get very proud. “Oh, look at me, I can do perfect austerities, look at me, I chant two lacs a day.” I probably wouldn’t be able to speak for an hour or two on these subjects. I rather speak on these subjects and have some weakness, and let the Lord show that He is in charge. Anyway, we all are like this. We all can be empowered if we just sincerely and humbly pray to the Lord. One of the qualities of the Lord and the Lord’s devotees is that they are very merciful to the humble and meak. He is more merciful to a humble and meak person that has imperfections than a person who is a perfect brahmana, proud of his austerities. The Lord shows this over and over again. All glories to all the devotees of the Lord! Thank you very much for listening. I feel satisfied and now I see - the world is full of bliss – everywhere! It’s the way it’s supposed to be. Hare Krishna!
