Going beyond the 3 modes...

Verse 1.6.21: This is a wonderful sloka of Srimad Bhagavatam. Those who are attached to the temporary pleasures of the material world cannot see ME, Krishna says. What is the qualification needed, we need to be first situated beyond the three modes, in transcendence.

Srila Naradamuni, got the vision of the paramatma once and then the vision disappears. He was engaging his spiritual senses to see Vishnu. When this vision disappears, he heard this voice: Those who are incomplete in service and who are not completely free from all material taints can hardly see Me.

In our movement also, initially everything is like tasting nectar. Then Krishna withdraws His mercy, then we need to struggle to get this taste again. That can be done by purification of ourselves.

We need to get rid of this gross lust, subtle lust, greed, envy, all these bad qualities, before we again get the association of the Lord. Sense gratification and Krishna Consciousness cannot go together.

3 gates leading to hell: lust, anger and envy. Krishna Consciousness means genuine control of senses and sadhana. We need to really fight, fight and fight to control our senses and do our sadhana sincerely.

Krishna is dancing on the tongue, entering your ears when we are chanting. When we know this, our chanting also becomes easy. The real progress is in the struggle.

Sadhana, Service and Association of Devotees!

Verse 1.6.20: Not that God is a time pass thing...
He is real, spiritual world and Krishna is reality. There are so many stars outside, there are people even there. We are actually living like frog in a well.

When love of Godhead is there, Krishna can be perceived through sadhana only. He cannot be perceived through our blunt senses. He is actually watching us. What is needed is genuine faith and good sadhana.

Eg: Dhruva Maharaj, did so many austerities. Great sadhana and he finally saw Vishnu.
When love of Godhead is there in our heart, it is possible. But good sadhana should be there. It is definitely possible and simple, but not easy.
How is this to be done: Association of devotees, Holy Name and Service, more and more we do this, it becomes easier and easier. Problem is actually with our side, but not from His side.

Annartha nivrutthi takes a long long time, but we should continue. What matters is expertise in pleasing Krishna. What matters is ability to love and serve Krishna and His devotees.

Srila Prabhupada says: how do we make advancement in spiritual life - by doing sadhana and preaching. So we need to chant very very sincerely.

Depending on the mercy of the Lord, patiently

Verse 1.6.19: What is needed is service attitude to devotees and Krishna.

Basically, Srila Naradamuni was meditating in his heart and he saw the form of Ksirodaksayi Vishnu in his heart. Then suddenly that form disappears. Then he tried so much to try and repeat that mechanical process again and again, but somehow he did not get that mercy again. We all also, our initial experience in Krishna Consciousness was so very nice, but we try and try now and we might not get it now. Due to our familiarity and other things we do not receive that bliss again.
Here 3 points Srila Prabhupada is making:
* You cannot bring Krishna by force, only by His mercy He can be seen and experienced
* One must be very patient in executing devotional service
* Keep on executing devotional service, unalloyed, without any motives

Stages of devotion.......

Verse 1.6.16: Here, Naradamuni, because he was a small kid, when he started meditating on the lotus feet of Krishna, immediately he got the darshan of Krishna (paramatma). There are stages towards attaining transcendental affection of the Lord.

Sraddha takes you to association of devotees, they tell u to chant the holy name, then comes anartha-nivrutti, nishta, ......, bhava and prema

We should utilize this human form, the holy name is so very potent, Krishna has invested all His energies in His holy name. So pls chant the name of Krishna very nicely, He will help you. Then we will also see Krishna face-2-face very soon, as did Naradamuni in this shloka. So we need to genuinely chant sincerely.

Good fortune of Naradamuni...

Verse 1.6.14-15: So here, by the good fortune, Naradamuni got himself released from all attachments. He could have become a beggar that time, but because of the association of the Bhaktivedanta's, he did not do so. Instead, he traveled to the North, not attracted/affected by any material things, and finally became Naradamuni. That is the good fortune.

A mendicant is fearless, and for his subsistence he does not have any need to visit householders. When a sadhu or a sanyasi visit's a householder, it is not his need, but he goes only to enlighten the householder spiritually.

Then Naradamuni sat under the banyan tree and started meditating. He was a child that time. That's why as children, it is easy to nicely mold them spiritually.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu's instruction: stay wherever you are and continue spiritual progress from there itself, as a grhastha or as a brahmachari or as a vanprastha or as a sanyasi. If one submits to a bona fide Guru and fully follows the instructions of this spiritual master, then he has attained the goal of his life.

Preaching is Compassion!

Verse 1.6.13: Here, Srimad Bhagavatam is explaining the need of spreading the message of Krishna. It is not limited to a Sannyasi. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is telling that it is His order that everyone should travel and preach. Why is He telling us this, when He Himself can do it very easily? Actually we all know about Vasudeva Datta, who requested to be given all the sins of everyone, so that all the other living entities of this world can go back to Godhead. Caitanya Mahaprabhu then delivered all the conditioned souls into the spiritual world. Similarly, earlier too Lord Ramachandra did the same when He was going back to the spiritual world.

So not just the Sannyasi, we are also responsible for preaching. The Sannyasi is someone who is always preaching the message Lord Caitanya, not getting entangled in the material modes. Unless you preach, you cannot come to spiritual world. Why? Because preaching is compassion. Unless we have compassion, we cannot come to spiritual world. So do we have real compassion, no. We are only representing Srila Prabhupada's compassion. So we have to be very very fearless in distributing this compassion.

Protecting the devotees...

Verse 1.6.5 to 1.6.10: Srila Naradamuni is explaining to Vyasadev as to what he did after the bhaktivedanta's left. He is explaining here, that his mother died when she was bitten by a snake. He was not therefore totally dependent on the Lord, thinking that everything is a special mercy of the Lord, the supreme benediction.

Srila Prabhupada is explaining that mundane prosperity is a material fever, and by the grace of the Lord when it is removed, it is like a special mercy of the Lord.

Interesting thing: Srimati Radharani is directly mentioned right in the middle of the Bhagavad-gita. Krishna talks about His internal energy, that it protects the devotees of the Lord. This internal energy is Srimati Radharani, she is always protecting the devotees of the Lord. So the same thing is mentioned here, the Lord very nicely protects His devotees, does not matter what situation they are in.

Spiritual Consciousness is Eternal!

Verse 1.6.4: Prabhuji is traveling in Mangalagiri, in South India. Here Lord Narasimhadeva is being worshiped for many thousands of years. Here many people offer jaggery water to the Lord, but no ants are seen near. There is also a self manifested deity of Lakshmi devi.

Coming to the shloka today: Vyasadev is asking as to how come you got the spiritual body in the last yuga and you still remember everything? How is it possible. How do you remember all these things, was asked to Naradamuni. Vyasadev is very inquisitively asking this question. That is the way we should acquire knowledge, by a humble inquiry. That is how we make progress in spiritual life.

tavviddi-pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya....

We should preach as a genuine servant of servant of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. That too, we should preach for our own purification.

Coversation between Srila Naradamuni and Sri Vyasadev!

Verse 1.6.1 to 3: Actually, Srimad Bhagavatam is not just a theoretical text. It contains the devotees life, their realizations, how they attained the Lord, how the Lord protected them. It is not just time-pass stories, it is a reality, it very explains how we can attain to Krishna.

So here Narada muni was explaining of the power of bhakti. So Vyasadev is inquiring as to what Naradamuni did after the bhaktivedanta's initiated him. So he is questioning as to how although Naradamuni was born as a maidservant's son, how he got this present spiritual body.

Inquisitiveness to learn about Krishna, nishtha to chant, to serve devotees, these are the good opportunities to progress in the spiritual life. Even if you are miserable, if you pretend and enthusiastically do the service, then people seeing you will also take up to spiritual life.

It is very very easy to please Krishna, just simply perform our service with enthusiasm without any hypocrisy, then we will be able to chant nicely and it is a guarantee we will be able to go back home back to Godhead.

Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Thakur!!!

A few points from the pastimes of Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saraswati Thakur (SBSST):

* Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, was called the seventh Goswami of our parampara. He was a Grhastha, but he devoted his complete life for spreading the mission of Sri CM.
* Bimala Prasad was born to him, as an answer to his intense prayers to Jagannath, for sending a ray of Vishnu, to help him in bringing Vaishnavism back into glory.
* Jagannath cart... blessings through garland.
* Mango...without being offered...Bhaktisiddanta Swami took a vow for never eating a Mango in his life.
* Came to put an end to the apasampradaya's like the Sahajiya's etc.
* At that time, the Guru's in our parampara used to give their disciples their siddhapranali mantra, so that they chant in that mood. But it was being abused. So he also put an end to this.
* Another thing was a difference between Brahmanas and Vaishnavas, as to who is greater. This was being done based on birth. As a young boy, BSST, lectured to so many caste brahmanas, and finally very conclusively proved that a Vaishnava is far above a Brahmana. He proved that once you have realized Brahman, you become a Brahmana. When you practise brahmana == you become vipra, then dvija brahmana, then a real brahmana and finally with unmotivated uninterrupted devotion becomes a Vaishnava.
* He surrendered to GaurKishore Das Babaji Maharaj. He had to plead and pray so much before Babaji Maharaj decide to initiate him.
* He used to chant everyday 192 rounds for 10 years, so that he could establish a movement worldwide. It needs spiritual energy. In the wilderness in Mayapur, he was crying that without money, without power how can he establish Sri CM's movement. Then all the Panchatattva appeared to him and told him that if he does not get money here, he will be sent money from the spiritual world to help him preach Lord Caitanya's mission.
* He then started the Gaudiya Math, so much preaching. So many disciples and Sannyasis. He was a Simha-Guru.
* One of his disciples was our Srila Prabhupada, who was too a Grhastha, but continued his Guru's mission through establishing this movement worldwide.
* On his first meeting with SBSST, SBSST told him to spread the KC movement in the Western world, as they were young educated Indians.
* SBSST to SP: "If ever you have money, print books. Preach in the English language".
* SBSST: No matter what happens, never leave the service of Krishna, never leave the chanting, never leave the path set by Rupa and Raghunath.

Worshipping the Sound form of the Lord!

Verse 1.5.38: Here, Srila Narada muni is instructing and explaining to Vyasadeva, saying that he is not satisfied because Vyasadev has not yet explained the glories of the Lord. Naradamuni here continues to say that he is the actual seer, who worships the Lord in the from of transcendental sound representation.

Here, Srila Prabhupada in his purport, is talking about how powerful sound vibration is. Just by listening to somebody about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, our faith in Him will become strong. If we hear about the glories of the Lord, then we can come out of our conditioning and we realize that our faith is becoming stronger in Him.

As we put some little faith in science and start off in our studies. Similarly in our spiritual life also, we need to put some faith and associate with devotees. Now starting to chant and listen about the Lord, our faith becomes stronger and we get further realizations about the actual presence of the Lord in and around us.

The instructions given by Caitanya Mahaprabhu also, just 8 of them, the first one is chanting of the Holy Name. He is describing the glories to the Holy name, which is the sound representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Service Attitude brings about Realizations!

Verse 1.5.37: From Krishna comes Balaram, from Balaram comes the first chaturvyuha - vasudeva, sankarshana, pradyumna and aniruddha. Then again the second chaturvyuha comes and from there comes Narayana (nara+aayana = shelter of the living entities).

The Supreme Lord is accessible by mantra's and brahmanas know the mantra's. This brahmana is not just by birth brahmana. One who has served his Guru with complete surrender is a Brahmana. And a Vaishnava is higher than a brahmana, since all he has unmotivated and uninterrupted devotion to Guru and Krishna. Patience, knowledge, purity, sadhana (realized knowledge) are all qualities of a Brahmana. Without sadhana, whatever we are reading becomes simply theory. The realization will only come by sadhana. Important ingredient is seva, for reading Srimad Bhagavatam. Unless the paramatma in our heart is pleased, we will not realize the essence of this Bhagavatam. Krishna in our heart is watching all our moves, thoughts, everything. We have to sincerely take shelter in Krishna.

Laxmana is called Lakshmi sammpanna, because of the service attitude he possessed for Lord Rama. That's why he could stay with Lord Ram all the time. That way, if we also perform service with full heart, we will also become the recipient of Krishna's mercy.

Preaching the Bhagavad-gita!

Verse 1.5.36: Continuing Purport today..

Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that anybody who helps spread the message of this Bhagavad-gita, who does the preaching, he is very dear to me and at the end of the life, he will come to back to Me.

That's why preaching of this Bhagavad-gita is so very important. But how can we preach if we don't follow. So we should follow nicely: chant very sincerely, read Srila Prabhupada's books, take care of deities, eat only Krishna prasad. All this is nice preaching. A person who is washing the pots in the temple, who is doing deity worship, all these form preaching. This will help us change the heart of anyone who might see all this.

Our income: 50% for Krishna, 25% for personal emergencies, 25% for family maintenance.
Instruction is, preach nicely, serve Krishna to the best of your ability.

Bali Maharaj donated everything to the Lord. We should follow in footsteps of such devotees. And of course, we should not imitate what we are not. So we should genuinely pray to Krishna to help us in His mission. We should be very strict with ourselves, but lenient with others. When anyone newly comes to the temple, we don't talk about the 4 regulative principles. Just simply ask them to chant, that itself will help them purify their heart and come closer to Krishna.

True progress in Bhakti: When we listen to our paramatma, He will guide us with his instructions. That will give us realizations. But how can we listen to our paramatma, only when our sadhana is very good. That will only help us listen to the paramatma.

Srila Narottama Das Thakur Appearance Day!

Appearance of Narottama Das Thakur:

* So many songs in our parampara are from him.
* Srila Prabhupada says, his kirtans are very very simple and they are highly effective.
* One day, when Caitanya Mahaprabhu (CM) was in Keturi grama, He was shouting Narottama Narottama... Afterwards, he told Lord Nityananda that a great personality called Narottama is going to be born here. So He deposited His Krishna Prema in the river Padma, to be finally given to Narottama.
* His parents are very very pious. From childhood, he was not interested in external enjoyment.
* After his birth, one day he went to take birth in River Padma, immediately the river was overflooded, Padma river knew who is this and therefore gave him the Krishna prema which CM had deposited for him.
* From then on, he was completely absorbed in ecstasy for Mahaprabhu's love. By CM's mercy, Narottama made a new style of kirtans and dance, very very nice.
* So many stories relating to Narottama Das Thakur is there.
* Narottama's associate was Ram chander Kaviraj (disciple of Srinivas Acharya).
* Story of how two boys were made into Vaishnavas; Kali worshipper transformed etc.
* Story of Ganga Narayan Chakravarthy and other Vaishnava, how they transformed the King and his pandits, who were coming to defeat Narottama Das Thakur.
* Another short pastime: When Ram chander Kaviraj and Srinivas Acharya departed from this world, Narottama Das Thakur was completely moved and he wrote the famous song : Je anilo prema dhana... This bhajan is sung when a vaishnava departs from this world. In their separation, he asked his disciples to put Ganga water on him. Narottama Das Thakur melted into milk during this abhishek. His disciple Ganga Narayan Chakravarthy and others collected this milk in a jug and made a samadhi for him. Actually Narottama Das Thakur is a manjari who would boil milk for Krishna!

Srila Narottama Das Thakur ki Jay!!!!

Lord Nityananda's Appearance Day !

Reading from Vaishnava Acharya's book:

* Today is a very very very important day for us.
* Without the mercy of Nityanand Prabhu, it is definitely not possible for us to get the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu
* Eg: Raghunatha Das Goswami's story, who directly tried to approach Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but was not successful. Only when he received the mercy of Lord Nityananda, he was able to receive the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
* He is mercy personified - eg: Jagai and Magai's story
* Bhajan by Narottama Das Thakur - Nitai pada kamala koticandra susitala.... (please read and sing this today)
* His compassion is unlimited
* He is the original spiritual master. The presence of Lord Nityananda is always felt in the presence of one's own Guru.

Engaging everything in the service of the Lord!

Verse 1.5.33: As a continuation from yesterday's verse, Srila Narada muni is telling how one's miseries can be overcome. By spiritualizing our activity, any activity can be made to cause our liberation. Just using all activities in the service of the Lord.
Eg: Food that we eat, so much karma due to so much violence in it. But very same food, when offered to the Lord, this prasadam will be the cause of our liberation.

The best way to make the best use of a bad bargain is to use everything in relation with the supreme spiritual being. When everything is thus employed in the service of the Lord, we can experience that there is nothing except the Supreme Brahman. The Vedic mantra that "everything is Brahman" is thus realized by us.

A spiritual master is one such expert person, who knows how to engage everything in Krishna's service. We need to approach such a spiritual master and submissively inquire from him in this direction.

Srila Advaita Acharya Appearance Day!

Some notes on the pastimes of Srila Advaita Acharya:

* One of the associates of Mahaprabhu, in the Panchatattva. The Panchatattva mantra is very powerful, more powerful than the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra.
* Caitanya Mahaprabhu (CM) said, Hare Krishna mahamantra is for our delivarance, so Srila Prabhupada said we will exactly follow what CM asked us to do.
* Advaita Acharya (AC) is Maha-Vishnu and Sada-Shiva combined.
* From childhood, he was interested only in the Srimad Bhagavatam (SB), nothing else.
* AC's prayers were one of the reasons because of which CM came.
* In SB, Krishna says: Anyone who offers Ganga and Tulsi to Me, I sell Myself of them. That is the significance of Tulsi Devi. AC prayed for CM's appearance by offering these both, very intensely.
* AC's wife - Sitapada Rani. She came to give gifts to Sachimata, when she delivered Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. As soon as she saw the boy, immediately she thought of Krishna and told mother Sachi, that Krishna Chandra is born to her.
* AC was a Vaishnava leader in Navadvip. His associate was Srila Haridas Thakur.
* CM's elder brother, Vishvaroop was very close to Advaita Acharya. He used to be inspired by AC very much and spend most of his time with him.
* After being initiated by Isvara Puri, CM started the era of Krishna-Sankirtan.
* One day, CM displays His Krishna form and asked AC to come. Now AC wanted to test Mahaprabhu. He stays in Nandan achary's house. CM told the devotees that AC is there and asked them to bring him. Thus AC know's CM is Krishna Himself.
* Since AC was so elder to CM, CM used to always touch his feet. This embarrassed AC quite a bit. So to get a chance for him to touch the feet of CM once, he starts a school and starts teaching the impersonal philosophy. CM once visits AC and He hears that God is Brahman, everything is Brahman. Now, CM became angry. He pinned AC down, sat on his chest and started beating him. CM asked then, why did you call for me, when you are preaching impersonal philosophy. Here, Nityanand Prabhu is laughing. Immediately AC payed his humble obeisances and said now you have shown that I am the servant of the servant of the servant. Thank you so much, only because you considered me your servant, you bet me. My Lord, I am your eternal servant, please don't give me so much respect all the time.
* AC had two sons. His sons were very very devoted to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
* Caitanya Caritamrta and CBhagavat is filled with AC's pastimes.
* Actually for any devotee to understand what pure devotion, CC and CB are the best.

Srila Advaita Acharya Appearance Day Maha-mahotsav ki Jay! If we pray to AC today for his mercy, then we will also get Gaura-Nitai's mercy!!!