A Sweet Taste of Bhakti

From the heart of

Srila Prabhupada Premgopal Goswami

“Krishna is the ocean, the ocean is very calm – but Radharani with her
glances – She is the waves that agitate the ocean. Krishna is the ocean,
but on the surface are so many waves. He is not easy to get – you have
to go deep, then you can attain Him.”
Prabhupada Premgopal Goswami
 Contents

Page

1. Introduction 1

2. What is Krishna Prema? 2

3. Looking for Happiness 5

4. Wonderful Stories about Siddha Mahatmas 11

5. The Blessings of Sri Guru 23

6. The Power of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra 34

7. I Made My Heart Vrindavan 48

8. The Secret of Manjari Bhava 53

Compiled and produced by Praneswari dasi & Dau Dayal das

Cover design by Madhavi dasi

Published by Bhakti Books (A division of the Dreaming Butterfly)

November 2014

ISBN 978-0-9560757-3-4

All rights reserved @ Sri Sri Hari Bhakti Procarini Sabha

Printed in India by GOKUL OFFSET PVT. LTD.

 Introduction
We are most fortunate to have met and taken shelter of such an amazing
personality as Srila Prabhupada Premgopal Goswami of Radha Madan
Mohan Mandir Nabadwip. He is a great Vaisnava in a family of great
Vaisnavas, the 14th direct descendent of Lord Nityananda. Prabhupada (the
honoury title of those of this line) is extraordinarily gifted, being steeped in
both extensive knowledge of shastra and deep realization of prema, while at
the same time speaking good English and being skilled in the use of modern
technology. He is a Sadhu who uses whatsapp! He is also a wonderful
storyteller and is a joy to listen to, in English or his native Bengali. He sings
like an angel and is a gifted musician. We don’t have enough words to glorify
him sufficiently, just to say again how grateful we are for his association and
his mercy, and the chance to do this seva of presenting this first small book
of his English lectures. The book begins with one short tantalizing answer to
the question ‘what is Krishna prema?’ given by Prabhu at a Delhi program.
Following this are tasty excerpts from transcriptions of lectures he gave at
a very sweet Bhakti retreat in a village close to Prague (Czech Republic) in
September 2014.

This book is an introductory taster in Prabhu’s unique style to Bhakti Yoga,

the sweet path of love for Radha and Krishna. However it also contains
some great stories and tasty morsels to tempt the more knowledgeable
reader. We have tidied up the language a little to make it suitable for print,
but hope we have kept the sound of his lovely voice in these pages. We
are now working on a volume of nine lectures on raganuga bhakti given at
Radha Kunda during kartika 2014.

Any mistakes here are all ours, any nectar comes entirely from our very
much loved Prabhupada Premgopal Goswami.

Yours very warmly,

Dau Dayal das

Praneswari dasi
Kartika 2014

1
 What is
1
Krishna Prema?

2
S ri Premgopal Goswami Prabhudpada answers the question ‘What is
Krishna Prema?’

(Delhi, March 2014)

Prema is everything for us. Our life here – our smiling, our crying,
our exchanging of love – everything. Without this prema, we cannot
exchange our love in the material world. The love we exchange with
family members, with friends, with everyone, this love we caught from
Him.

Love, prema, is always pure. When it discontinues, or when we mix our

thoughts with it, our desires, our material needs, then it becomes ‘impure’,
mixed, contaminated: Love itself, prema, is always pure, but when it
mixes with our material needs it becomes contaminated – adulterated –
like metal, it can be pure gold or mixed with other metals.

We are pure spirit souls. When we come into contact with the material
world, we get confused; the love gets mixed, but still the love is there.
Love is always pure.

Our material love also we get from Krishna. Because no-one can create
love by himself. No-one can, because it is very pure – it is not from this
material world. That is why we are here. Krishna sent us here to just
practice about this love. We have to exchange this love, the same love,
with Him, in these different moods (friendly, beloved, parental, dasya…).
That’s why we have so many relationships in this life, in this world. But
we don’t know, we have forgotten, where the love came from – that’s
why we are using this love in a wrong way, a separate way. If we get this
feeling of where this love comes from, then our mind will go one way,
towards the Supreme Power, to Krishna. Then our mind will search –
towards where we got this. Because this love, it is also like a trust. When
you feel this love, then trust will grow.

Always we are mixing this love with emotion. Sometimes we feel that
this emotion is love – no. It is not the same thing. Emotion can change,
affection can change, but love – not. Love, it is for always. And this same
love we can offer to Krishna. Only we have to purify it. How? By Guru
blessing. Guru transforms our contaminated love to pure love, which we
can offer to Krishna.

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Q: So we transfer our love? To Guru?

A: No, not transfer. Just take shelter of Sri Gurudeva. Then she will
accept everything from us. Our good, our bad, everything.

Q: What does it really mean, to take shelter?

A: Taking shelter means to offer everything to him. Now we are like soft
mud, and Guru can mold us, and present us to Krishna after purification.
Because we are like clay, inside the clay are little stones, all need to be
cleaned out so we can be offered. Guru is doing that, that is the duty of
Guru. Then he will present us to Krishna.

Remember how Bilvamangala Thakur loved Cintamani? He had a very

deep love for her. He had this love, and she said, ‘you have this good
love and you are wasting it – if you only loved Krishna like you love me,
your life would be perfect.’ Then Bilvamangala Thakur realized, ‘yes, this
is true. If I have strong love in my heart, I can offer it to Krishna.’ And
then he took shelter of his Gurudeva, but he never forgot his first lesson
about love, from Cintamani, that is why she was his first Guru – she from
whom he got the lesson of love. Because sometimes Shiksha Guru is
very important, more than Diksha Guru. Diksha Guru will give us the
mantras, these are the seeds, but Shiksha Guru will help to grow and
develop these seeds.

That is Krishna prema. Everything. When you feel the same love for
anyone, anything, any subject, realize that this is Krishna prema. He
gave you this (all love here in the material world). It is a reflection of the
real thing, but love is love.

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 Looking for
2 Happiness
Premgopal: What is bhakti yoga? Why are we practicing this?
The goal of our life is to get happiness, pure happiness. That’s why
we are acting and endeavouring for anything in the material world.
Somehow or other we are trying to get happiness. Some try to be happy
by getting so much money. Some by getting so much power. Others by
making oneself very beautiful, still others by accumulating knowledge
and becoming wise. But our ultimate goal is to get happiness in our
minds and hearts.

Why are we searching for real happiness? We have never had the
experience of eternal happiness here. If we have no experience of
something, we will not be attracted to it. How come we are looking for
something we never had before? If we have no experience of something,
say, tea or juice, we will not have taste for it, our mind will not be inclined
to taste it. Then why are we trying for happiness? Where did we get this
taste for happiness from? This ananda (bliss)?

We get it from the constitutional elements of our soul (the soul is composed
of three spiritual elements: sat, cit and ananda – eternity, knowledge
and bliss). We are all parts of the Supersoul, paramatma, Bhagavan
(The Supreme Personality of Godhead). Therefore our elements are
like his: sat-cit-ananda. Because we have this ananda inherently, in our
ingredient elements, we are always searching for this happiness. Here in
the material world we only get a tiny taste of this ananda, but by nature
we are not satisfied with such a meager taste of it. Therefore we are
always searching for more and more. Everyone is searching for it, from
a newly-born baby to the person on their death bed, we are all searching
for ananda, for real, lasting, happiness. Because we have it inherently in
our constitutional spiritual nature, we are constantly searching for it. (On
the level of the soul we are hankering for pure love and we know that
anything less would not satisfy us).

When we get some happiness it doesn’t last. That’s because our

subconscious rejects it after a while knowing that it is not the ultimate
happiness. For example, we get pleasure from listening to some song or
from eating delicious food. When we get such pleasure, our subconscious
mind compares it with the “supertaste.” Are we getting the same pleasure
as this ananda? Is it the same as that ananda which is inherent in our
constitutional elements? Is it like the spiritual sat-cit-ananda? When our
subconscious mind says, “No, it is not the same. This is not it”, then we

6
reject it. Then it stops being pleasurable for us. Then we will search
further for another, higher taste of happiness.

Where will we get this eternal bliss from? Where is that ananda, by which
we will become immortal and will never have to take birth again? It exists
in the spiritual dimension, not on the material platform. That’s why we
search for it on the spiritual platform, that’s why we turn to spiritual life
and feel the urge to engage in spiritual practice.

The scriptures describe millions of ways for attaining this ananda. In

Srimad Bhagavatam it says, bhurini bhuri-karmani srotavyani vibhagasah
atah sadho ‘tra yat saram samuddritya manijnaya bruhi bhadraya
bhutanam yenatma suprasidati (SB 1.1.11)

The assembled sages asked the topmost sage, maharshi Suta, “We
can see that the scriptures recommend so many different ways to attain
happiness. But every scripture makes claims to be the topmost: ‘This
way is perfect. This way is perfect.’ Therefore we are asking you to clear
this confusion and to tell us which path is the best, what is the essence
of all the scriptures. We are not asking merely for our own benefit, but for
the benefit of all humanity.”

Then maharshi Suta explained that of the millions of paths to perfection,

three are prominent. If one way is the easiest, you will not give any
importance to the others. That is our nature, the nature of the jivas
(spirit souls). If we can get something very easily, we will not give much
importance to other ways. That’s why the ultimate bliss, the ultimate
ananda, is not easy to get. Among the millions of ways, three are the main
ways. Jnana, yoga and bhakti (yoga through knowledge; through mystic
powers; through devotion to Krishna). What is the ultimate goal of these
three paths? By these three ways you will get three different results. By
jnana they try to see the light (effulgence emanating from Krishna) and
hear the sound (aum) – known as Brahman (the impersonal aspect of
God). By yoga, the ultimate goal is to meet paramatma (the Supersoul,
the localized aspect of God in the heart of every being). By bhakti, we
will get Bhagavan (the personal aspect, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Krishna).

Why not jnana or yoga? Why do we consider bhakti the supreme path,
the highest? This is because by jnana you can attain the Brahman,
merge into the impersonal light. Shankaracarya, a partial incarnation of
lord Siva and the proponent of the impersonalist (mayavada) conception

7
said, whatever you see in this world is false, an illusion. Everything is
Brahman. brahma satyam jagan mithya – the only truth is brahma. The
jivas are also brahma. Sarvam kalavidam brahma – all of this material
creation is simply an illusion, a shadow, and we are mistaking this
shadow for reality. It is like seeing the snake in a rope. That was his
commentary. But at the very end of his life he said, “No, I was wrong. My
teachings were the opposite of the truth.” That’s why he wrote this verse:
Bhaje govindam bhaje govindam muddha mate. “Just worship Govinda
(Krishna), my foolish mind.”

He said himself, “oh my stupid mind” - we are all like this. First he
described this brahma, this light. Then he explained there is nothing,
there is no qualities there, only you can see the light, and you can hear
the sound, but there is no other qualities because jiva is always searching
for happiness in their heart, in their mind, and there, just by seeing the
light and the sound, they will not get this happiness. That is why this
jnana is not the supreme path.

Then, yoga. In yoga there are two parts; the external part is known as
hatha yoga – asanas, pranayama, etc. The internal part is to meditate
on paramatma (the supersoul). What is the supreme goal in yoga? In
the Upanishads it is mentioned that dva suparna sayuja sakhayah - our
body is like a tree that has many branches. On that tree two birds are
sitting. One bird is jivatma,(the individual spirit soul) one is paramatma
(the Supersoul, an expansion of Krishna). Jivatma is taking and enjoying
all the fruits of the tree. Paramatma is just observing what the jivatma
is doing. He is not taking any fruits, he is not saying anything to the
other bird, you are doing right, or you are doing wrong. After a long time,
jivatma will get sick of it all, because in this tree there are so many fruits.
Some fruits bring happiness, some bring distress. Jivatma is getting all
the fruits – happiness, distress, happiness, distress, happiness, distress.
In this way, one day, he will get fed up, and when he finally gets fed up
he will look towards the other bird. Until that time he will not be interested
in seeing the other bird. Until that time, he wants to cheat the other bird
– I’ll take all the fruits for myself! I will not even give one to the other
bird! But when he gets fed up, he realizes, ‘are, I was so stupid, I took all
these fruits, but now I am sick! But this other bird, he never took any fruit
from this tree, and he is happy! How come? Maybe he has some special
qualities. Maybe he has some special power. That’s why he is happy!’
when the jivatma bird realizes this paramatma has special qualities and
special powers, and he is the super-bird, this is the ultimate target -

8
to realize, to feel, and to see this paramatma. But the surprising thing
this also has no taste. Why? Because paramatma will not say anything.
Paramatma will only observe. He will not say good or bad, he will not say
do this or don’t do this. He will just watch like an observer. In yoga you
can only go up to this stage.

And in bhakti yoga by your practice you can get this relationship with
Bhagavan. Shankaracharya, by his realization, gave a very nice example.
At the end of his life, he explained his realization about these three ways
like this: One person is standing very far from you and he is decorated
with many ornaments and jewels, and so many lights are reflecting
from him. From a long distance, you could not recognize that there is
a person there – you can only see the light. That is the realization of
jnana; Brahman. Then if we come nearer that person we will recognize
it is not just light, this light is coming from something, from some figure
– the light has a source. That means you can recognize the forms, the
light is coming out from a form. This form, paramatma, is the target of
yoga. When you right in front of that person, then you can see ‘are! This
person is this!’ Then you can talk with this person. You can be close
to that person. You can make a relationship with that person. This is
bhakti yoga. By bhakti yoga, you can meet this Supersoul, Bhagavan,
Brahman.

What is bhakti yoga? All the sadhakas in bhakti yoga, what is their
practice? If you read all the books, all the scriptures, then you will find
there are many strong words in your head. But if you feel this, what all
the scriptures say, you will realize that bhakti yoga is the practice of
love. The practice of exchanging love with someone who is Super –
that is why we are here in this material world. That is why we have so
many relationships in our life – father, mother, brother, sister, friend,
lover, beloved: so many relationships. These relationships are exposing
different kinds of love. Love of father is not the same love that you will
get with your mother. Love from your brother, you’ll see some difference
with love from your sister. All these relationships have special moods
and special loves. We are here in this material world to practice all these
kinds of love. And after practicing this love, we have to offer this love
to Svyam Bhagavan (the original Bhagavan, God - meaning Krishna).
Because we have to exchange our love with Bhagavan, He is the ultimate
lover, the highest target for us is to exchange our love with Him. That is
why we have love in our hearts.

9
How will we exchange our love with Him? By love here in the material
world we are practicing. Yes, this material love we have to offer to Him.
The love for Krishna and the love for your family members are not
different. That is why we can make relationship with Him in many ways.
If you are a Krishna devotee, you can love Him as your son, you can love
Him as your friend, you can love Him as your lover – in any way, you
can love Him. This is explained very nicely by the verse akhila rasamrita
murtih: He has all kinds of love, and we can exchange our love with Him,
that is our sadhana (our spiritual practice). We are exchanging our love
with God. That is our sadhana in bhakti yoga, that is bhakti yoga, and
this, once perfected or fully realized, brings feelings of supreme bliss
and unparalleled happiness

10
 Wonderful Stories about
3 Siddha Mahatmas
As well as scriptures, you need to listen to stories about the siddha
mahatmas (perfected great souls). These can give the realization, the
desire; we have to know their life. This is very important. First we have to
know the siddha mahatmas, how they performed their bhajan: if we have
this knowledge, then we can follow them, not speculate by own mind. All
these stories are about realization.

Ram das Babaji Maharaja lived about a hundred years ago in Nabadwip.
He had this strong attachment to it Nitai Chand, and that’s way everyone
called him that Nitai Pagal Ram das. You know what Nitai Pagal means?
- Crazy for Nitai.

This Ram das Babaji Maharaja was the disciple of Radha Raman Charan
das Babaji Maharaja. They are all from the Nityananda tradition. By his
bhajan, he got such power; he used to do harinam under one tree, in
Nabadwip. After his death, after he passed away, this tree also died,
after some days. And when the bark of this tree fell away from the trunk,
then everyone was surprised to see, the Harinam Mahamantra as written
there. By his bhajan it happened, by his Harinam bhajan.

Ram das Babaji Maharaja had this type of prema in his heart that everyone,
even all the animals, could realize what he is saying. Sometimes without
him speaking. Every day in his life he used to do harinam sankirtan alone
in the early morning in Sri Dham Nabadwip. He did parikrama there, in
the early morning. He went everywhere, and when he saw some animals
there, like in Nabadwip also you still see dogs, cows, monkeys, pigs,
roaming on the street, when he would see some animals, he would do
harinam sankirtan until they responded with their voices.

In that way, one day Ram das Babaji Maharaja at the daytime, not early
morning, maybe about noon time, he was going somewhere with some
of his disciples. And he saw that some dogs were fighting to get some
food that somebody had put out. The prasad was on the street and they
were fighting to eat it, and one man was beating them.

To see this Ram das Babaji maharaja felt very pained in his heart; “what
is happening here, here in Gaura dhama one has to fight only to get some
prasad? No no no. That’s not possible. There are so many devotees, so
many people here that can do big mahotsava (feast of prasadam) for the
men, but I will do a mahotsava for the animals, for these dogs.”

12
And he said this to his disciples: “you know, I want to invite all the dogs
and I want to offer them prasad.” But the disciples, they were surprised
to hear this. They asked, “what are you saying? How one can invite
the dogs? How will they realize that you are inviting them? They are all
street dogs, they are not under the control of anyone, that you can say to
this man to take your dogs to our temple, I will offer them prasad.”

But Babaji Maharaja said: “No, if you invite them from your heart then
they will realize, then they will know. They will come.” But the disciples
just said: “Baba it is not by us, we cannot do this.” And he said: “you must
invite them very politely. Before saying anything, you have to do pranam
and then you have to say that you are inviting them to our temple.” But
the disciples said “no Baba we cannot do this. We have not this ability
to invite them.”

“Ok, then I will go,” and he fixed a date to do this big mahotsava. Not a
little one. And he started to invite all the dogs. He would go to the road, all
the streets in Nabadwip, wherever he would see a dog, he invited them:
“please come!” In that way, with pranam, “please come. I am inviting
you because I want to offer prasad on this day.” But all the other general
people, they were laughing to see this: “Hey this man, he becomes crazy
now! Before everyone knows him as a mad and now, we can see what
he is doing, he is inviting dogs?” And it was not just the next day or the
same day, he was inviting them to come. It was long after, maybe one
or two weeks after.

And in that way maybe thousands of dogs he invited. On the day, they
arranged a big prasad. But his disciples, they were really in a suspicious
mood if the dogs will come or not. They were very doubtful. There was a
strong doubt in their mind that Baba invited all these dogs, street dogs,
would they come or not?

But Ram das Babaji Maharaja he was fixed on his mind. They will come.
And so they arranged the feast. Before they will offer this bhoga to Radha
Raman, (you know his deities were Radha Raman in Nabadwip), they
arranged all the seats. You see in Nabadwip how they give prasad to
the invited people? They will give the seats in lines and they will place
for each this banana leaf plate and cup for water and they will serve one
after one.

The disciples said “Baba, we will mix all of this prasadam, when they will
come we will give one place and all of them will take from there.” Baba

13
said: “No! If you invite someone can you offer someone prasad in that
way?” “But Baba! They are all dogs, they are not men. They cannot eat,
they cannot sit in that way, in lines, because they are not civilized.”

Baba said: “You know, they are more civilized then all of you! And they
will prove this when the offering will be finished, then you can see what
will happen. Just do what I am saying.”

And so the disciples arranged all this. They arranged the seats, the
asanas. And banana leaves, pot for water, everything they arranged in
a good way, then they offered the prasad to Radha Raman. And after
the bhoga arati was finished, all the people were surprised to see that
all the dogs arrived. They came in a good way, they were not barking,
they were not jumping, they were not running this side and that side. In a
very nice way they are came, and then Ram Das Babaji Maharaja said,
please take your asanas. When he said that, take your seats, then all of
the dogs just sat in a line. Line after line. They were not fighting with each
other, they were not giving problems to others. They just sat on their own
asanas. Then Ram Das Babaji Maharaja, he said to his disciple: “now
start parivesana” - start serving the prasadam. And one after one, the
same way how you serve all devotees, they served. First rice, dhal, sabji
one after one. One after one and at the end the khir (sweet rice).

And all the dogs, they ate all the prasadam, all the prasadam they
took, then the water, they took it from the pots, and they didn’t spread
it everywhere. And then after they took prasad, they left in the same
way. Not fighting, not running. And when they were taking prasadam,
Ram Das Babaji Maharaja, he offered his pranam to all of them. Every
individual dog, and he prayed “please take prasad, if you want more,
then please tell me.”

And all the people, all the devotees, they came to see this dog festival,
dog mahotsava (kukkur mahotsava). Still you can see this place, in
Radha Raman temple, still this place is there, where he has this dog
mahotsava.

Ram Das Babaji Maharaja, he would get good knowledge from everywhere.
He was always trying to find realization from everywhere, and he would
never see any bad things. When he was doing his parikrama in the early
morning he would even go to the colony of the prostitutes. Where all the
gentlemen, so called gentlemen, they would not go, but Babaji Maharaja
used to go every day in this colony also, only to give them this harinama,

14
knowing that if they would listen to some harinama, then they will get
some benefits from this. One day, he just passed by this colony and
one prostitute, she was sleeping on her veranda, and her leg was out
from this fence, and it was nicely decorated. And really this foot, this
decorated foot was so beautiful. Ram Das Babaji Maharaj was passing
by this house. Suddenly he saw this foot. And he got this realization: “Oh
if one prostitute has such nice feet, how beautiful my Radharani´s feet
must be?!” Only to get this realization, he was senseless. Suddenly he
got this attachment for Radharani.

In this way Ram Das Babaji Maharaj, he preached about Harinam. And
he mainly he preached about Nitai Chand; “Please take shelter on him,
others will never give anything in your life. If you have prema, if you have
respect for Nitai Chand then he will do everything for you.” That why he
was known as Nitai Pagal Ram das.

One of his God brothers, Lalita sakhi das Babaji, he was also a same
siddha mahatma (a perfected great soul). Just two days ago I saw on
one website some bad some comments about Lalita Sakhi and it was
very painful, how one can say such things about siddha mahatmas.
Lalita Sakhi he was very absorbed with this manjari bhava sadhana.
Very much absorbed, very deep. And in that way in his sadhana, he got
completely the moods of a woman, as a manjari. He always wore dress
like a woman. Still now, in that temple, they are following this, and with
these moods, he was worshipping Radha Raman, both of them. Ram
Das Babaji Maharaja had not this mood, but Lalita Sakhi, by his bhajan,
he was so inside of this manjari bhava bhajan he started to wear the
dress of women. And after a time it was very surprising how he changed.
He was a man and his body was transformed as a woman. He even
got these self-manifested breasts. He did not have them before. And
at the end of his life, when he was really so inside of this bhava, he got
his menstruation period also like a woman. Even the pitch of his voice
changed. He would not show his face to a man, never, and at the same
time, he was not attached to other women. Some people say that maybe
he had a crazy mind, or it was only to get some attachment with women
he was imitating this all. No, He was doing bhajan alone as a woman,
as a manjari. Still now they are following this, when they are doing puja
of Radha Raman, the pujaris, they have to wear a sari. If you will go
to Radha Raman temple in Nabadwip then you can see. Arati, bhoga,
they are offering with the sari. They´ll wear sari and all the dresses of a
woman.

15
These were the nice, and you can say very full of prema, lives of Ram
Das Babaji Maharaja and Lalita sakhi das Babaji Maharja. They lived
together at the same time. And both were the disciple of Radha Raman
Charan Das Babaji Maharaj. The temple is now known as Radha Raman
Samajbari (samaj means Samadhi, and bari means house). Their
samadhis are there.

Now, about one other siddha Mahatma from Gaudiya Vaishnava Jivani:
(The Lives of Gaudiya Vaishnavas –a book by O.B.L.Kapur in two parts:
One, all the associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The second,
siddha mahatmas from 100-150 years ago, like Ram Krishna das Pandit
Baba, Siddha Krishna das Baba, Prabhupada Pran Gopal Goswami,
then this Madhavananda, and more. O.B.L.Kapur was a contemporary of
Swamiji, Bhaktivedanta Swami). This siddha Mahatma from Vrindavan;
he was not actually from Vrindavan, he was from Bengal somewhere,
but as a small boy he listened to some katha about Krishna lila and
he heard this lila of pure friendly mood, that Krishna is going with his
friends, with the cows, they are playing, and how he is playing with them.
He was so attached to the mood of Krishna, the mood of the friends, he
got this desire that, oh Krishna is so friendly, I have to play with him, but
where is he staying? Where is Krishna? Where I will find him?

He was a little boy, no one gave any importance to his words, he asked
so many people, do you know where Krishna is? He asked so many
people, devotees also “Where is Krishna, do you know?” “Why do you
want Krishna?” “I want to play with him.” “No one can do this.” “Why not?
I have heard that some friends they are going with him, they are playing
with him, they are fighting with him. I can do this. I know all this playing.
He plays with his friends. I also know how to play. Maybe he will get
more pleasure to play with me, than with his other friends.” But people
were not giving any attention or any importance to him. They just said,
“Go away.”

Then one day, he decided, here no one will tell me. And he got a real
pain in his heart. “Maybe in this life I cannot play with Krishna.” But that
time he found one group going to Vrindavan. They were on the way and
he asked, “Where you are going?” They answered, “We are going to
Vrindavan.” “Vrindavan? Why are you going to Vrindavan?” “You do not
know? We want to see Krishna there.” “Krishna is living there?” “Yes.
Krishna is living there in Vrindavan. Vrindavan is Krishna´s place.”

Then he just joined them. He just left his house to join them at this young

16
age, maybe 7-8 years, like this. No one realized that one extra boy was
in their group. They went away from this village, then later they found the
boy. “You came with us, you left your house? Why?” “Because I want to
see Krishna.” “No this is not good. Ok, you can join us, and when we will
go back, then we will send you to your house.”

He did not say a word, he just joined them, and one day they reached
Vrindavan. And he just left this group. And he asked all the people he met
in Vrindavan, “do you know where is Krishna´s house? I want to meet
him. Because he is a nice boy like me. I want to play with him.” “Really,
you want to play with him?” “Yes I want to play with him.” “Then you can
find him on these streets.” They were just joking with this boy, you know.
But he took this sentence to heart. He was really searching on the street,
looking Krishna. One day, he met a real devotee and he asked this same
question to him “I want to meet Krishna.” “You want to meet Krishna?”
“Yes.” “Why?” “Because I have strong attachment to him. I have strong
love for him.” “Really, you love Krishna? Ok. But you know if you want to
take darshan of Krishna, if you want to play with Krishna, then you have
to go to someone. By him you can attain Krishna.” “Who?” “Guru. You
have to accept one guru.” “Ok, where I can find this guru?” “No problem
you can go to this family, at Sringar Vat.”

This devotee, he was also a disciple of this family, and he said: “Ok,
you go there, from him you can get the guidance you need.” “Ok.” So
the boy went to this person, he went to this Goswami and he asked for
his initiation. “I want to meet Krishna.” “From where did you come?” “I
came from far away from here, from a little village in Bengal.” “Really?
And where you are staying here, leaving here, in Vrindavan?” “I have
no place you know. Sometimes I am sleeping under a tree, sometimes
somewhere in the temple.” And this couple, this Goswami and his wife,
they got really, really deep love for this boy, he was a very nice boy. “Ok
you can stay here.”

So he got initiated by him. And he was staying there and every day he
used to ask his guru: “where is Krishna? Because this man, he said if
I accept guru then I can take darshan of Krishna.” “Yes you can have
darshan of Krishna, but not here in this house, you know. He will come
in the field.”

“If I will go to the field I can take darshan?” “Yes. Because Krishna
likes all the cowherd boys. All the cowherd boys.” “Krishna likes all the
cowherd boys?” “Yes.” “But I am not a cowherd boy, because I am not

17
taking care of the cows. I don’t take them to the field. Can I take them?”
“Yes, you can take them.”

Then from next day he started to go every day to the field with his
Gurudeva, who had ten or fifteen cows. Then boy started to go alone
with the cows to the field. And after he went to the field he freed the
cows. They ate the grass, and every day he used to cry for Krishna –“Oh
where you are? Please come to me! I am waiting for you here.” Every
day, every day he was doing this.

One day he was seated under one tree, and was crying for Krishna.
Suddenly he saw a big storm of dust, he couldn’t see through it, but like
a storm the dust covered the sky and all the trees. He was curious - what
is happening there? Then he saw so many cows coming towards him,
so many, thousands of cows. And then he saw boys, so many little boys
running and playing among the cows. And among them there were two
very nice boys, one very black, and one very white. Then he was thinking
– “is he Krishna?” Then all of them came near to him, and the two boys
with all these other boys came to this boy, and this black boy he asked
him: “you are searching for me? You are looking for me?” “Who are
you?” “I am Krishna, and he is my elder brother Balaram, Baladev. And
they are all my friends: Sridam, Sudam, Dam, Vasudam.”

“Really? You are Krishna?” “Yes. I am Krishna.” Then Krishna accepted

him as his friend, and they started to play. And every day, they were
doing this. And every day Krishna would take some food from him.
Because when he would come to the field all day he will stay here with
the cows, that’s why his Guruma, she used to give him some food. Some
tiffin. And Krishna every day he used to take some food from him. “Very
beautiful food you have, who made this?” “My Guruma.” “Ok you know,
I like this food. From tomorrow, from the next day, you must get more!
I want to take this also. I’ll not carry my tiffin from my house. I´ll share
your food.” “Ok.”

After he came back to his Gurudeva’s house, he said this to his Guruma.
“Guruma! You know Krishna said this, that he will not bring his tiffin from
his house, he will take my food, so you must give more. And sometimes,
the friends of Krishna also they ask for this.” His Guruma she thought
that maybe some boys they are joking with him. But she did not say
anything, that what are you saying, Krishna came to you? No, no words,
but she just allowed this. From the next day she started to give more
food to this boy. Because now she found that this boy is really very

18
happy. Maybe because he got these friends he is happy. That’s why she
started to give more food to this boy.

It was going on like this, and one day Krishna said this to the boy: “Oh
friend, tomorrow we will do a picnic here, a bhanu puja (a puja to Surya,
the sun god). You know, tomorrow, my elder brother will not come. So I
invited my priya, Radharani, you know Radharani? She is my beloved.
You know, I invited her, she will come with all her sakhis. That’s why you
have to bring more things. So much food, not cooked food, not cooked
food, you must bring all this bhoga. You bring it, and my priya Radharani
will cook with all her sakhis.” “Ok Krishna, then I have to go back to my
house early.” “Yes go, just now.”

And he went back to his house and he told his Guruma. But this was
really, very much a problem to her, because he asked for so much food,
so many things that he would have to take with the cart. Such kinds of
food, such kind of stuff he wants from his Guruma. And then Guruma,
she has to tell his Gurudev. And she explained this, you know maybe
this boy, maybe he has been trapped by some bad boys, because every
day they are squeezing for more food. More food, more food, they are
squeezing this boy. Yes. And now today they asked that they will do
some picnic tomorrow and he has to bring all this stuff. So Gurudev
he asked this to this boy: What is happening? Than the boy explained
all this story. “Gurudev, you know Krishna is coming every day, he is
playing with me with all his friends and his elder brother also, Balaram
also.” Gurudev was surprised and a little bit angry also. “What are you
saying, Krishna is coming to play with you?” “Yes Gurudev, it’s true.”
“Can you show me? If you can show me that Krishna is coming then I will
give you. If you promise me that you will show Krishna and all his friends
and Radharani then I will give you.” “Yes Gurudev you can see, you can
see, every day we are playing there and tomorrow Radharani she will
come with all her sakhis.” “Ok, if you cannot show me, then you will get
punishment.” “Ok no problem.”

Then his Gurudev, he gave all this stuff to him and early morning he
went to this forest, saying to Gurudev, “Ok, you must come later. We
will all be there” (he said the place). At noon time near about 11.30,
Gurudev came to this place, he went to this place and he saw, that all
the cows, his cows, not any others, his cows were eating grass there on
the field, and this boy, this boy, he was running, here and there and he
was chuckling. His Gurudev was surprised, why he is running like this?
And he is laughing sometimes, he is calling Krishna. What is happening
19
here? Maybe he is making a fool of me? He is cheating me? Then he
asked, “Hey, what you are doing?” “Oh Gurudev, we are playing!” “We?
I can only see you, there are no others, where is we?” Yes, he could
not see anyone, but there was a surprising thing - he could smell a very
good smell of cooking. He could smell this and he was searching from
where it is coming. But there is nothing that he could find as the source
of this smell. And he asked this boy: “what is happening here, what you
are doing, why you are running in that way, why you are laughing?”

“Oh Gurudev you cannot see? See Krishna, see there Radharani is
cooking with all her sakhis, see, she is looking at you!” “No, I’m not
seeing anything!” “Then Ok, come nearer to us.”

Gurudev was coming near to them, to this boy, and there was one stone,
a big stone. He did not see the stone and his feet just hit this stone
and he tripped and was falling down. Krishna was in front of him and
he caught him in his hands, he did not let him fall down. And suddenly
when Krishna touched him, Gurudev could see all these things; all these
thousands of cows, Krishna, all the friends, there are very near to this boy
and they were just cuddling the boy, and Radharani, she was cooking
with all her sakhis, they were doing this everything, and the place was
changed, really changed; so many trees and flowers and fruits, it was a
very nice place. Gurudeva could only see it all for some moments and he
became senseless, only to see this he became unconscious.

At the end of the day, in the evening, he got his sense back. That time he
was in his house, and he saw that his disciple, this boy serving him with
the panka (fan). He said, “I am subhagya, so fortunate, that because of
you I can take darshan (sight) of Krishna, only because of you, otherwise
maybe in my life I´ll not get such darshan. I am proud of you my boy.”

A little boy, by his love, he can take darshan of Krishna, he can play
with Krishna. That is the great point, if you have strong eagerness, if you
have strong desire, then you can get him as your friend, as your relative,
like this, father, mother, lover, because he likes to exchange his love
with us. He likes to accept this pure love from us. What else can we offer
to him, everything is already his, we are all Krishna´s property, we can
only offer our love to him, nothing else.

These siddha mahatmas if you´ll see and read their biography, then you
will find these things. They are not doing so much puja, so much things,
but they have strong love for Krishna. They are doing their bhajan alone

20
in a very secret way, but they achieve this target, highest prema, by which
they took darshan of Krishna, they exchange their love with Krishna.
That does not matter where you are - in India, or here in Europe.

Just think about Ram Krishna Das Pandit Baba; he used to play marbles
with Krishna as a boy. In Vrindavan Ram Krishna Das Pandit Baba,
when he was so little, like 4 or 5 years old, Krishna would come to this
boy every day. And at noon time they would play the marbles. One day
this happened by the mercy of Krishna for this boy. His father was the
pujari of this temple and after bhoga they would close the temple. They
locked the door, you know. But Krishna every day he used to come
to this boy at noon time, after he would get prasadam, or rather after
he would get bhoga and this boy also he would get his lunch, prasad.
Then they would play marbles. One day it happened that Krishna was
defeated by this boy, in this playing, marble playing, and Krishna had to
give all hid marbles to this boy, and he gave his all marbles to this boy
and after some time, you know what he did? He stole all the marbles by
force, Krishna took all the marbles from him and He ran away!

Yes, Krishna took not only His marbles that the boy had won, but also
the marbles of the boy, He took them all by force, He ran away and He
went inside into the temple. And this boy followed Krishna running, and
he came to the temple crying loudly “Please give my marbles back, give
my marbles back! Please give my marbles back!”

But Krishna was already inside in the temple and it was locked, he
cannot go inside, this boy. And some people saw the boy crying in front
of this temple, in front of the door saying “give my marble back!” They
said to his father, “hey, what your son is doing there, Krishna is sleeping
now!” This father came to his boy, “hey what you are doing? Krishna is
sleeping now. You are crying loudly here, he will wake up.” “No no no!
He is not sleeping, he is a cheater!” “Cheater? You are saying Krishna
is a cheater?” “Yes, he took all my marbles by force.” And his father
thought that this boy was doing something crazy. “You are sure, it was
Krishna? You are sure that this boy was Krishna?” “Yes! He went inside,
he just went in, that’s why I am here. When he will come out from this
room, I’ll take him, I´ll catch him.”

Then his father tried to stop him, “do not cry here,” but this boy did not
follow his word. Then all the other people they said, “Ok, just open the
door.” “How it is possible, Krishna is sleeping now, I cannot do this,” “Yes

21
you have to do because this boy is saying this. We must know if he is
right or wrong. Maybe there is a miracle.”

And his father he opened the door the lock. And they entered the temple,
and Kishna was standing there like this, (tri bhanga lalitam pose, playing
the flute), “Where are the marbles, where are your marbles? Here are no
marbles!” “Yes, you can see here, in his pocket!” And then his father, he
searched that place and he found all the marbles there, all the marbles
were really there.

This is the story of Ram Krishna Das Pandit Baba. Only by feelings,
only by strong eagerness, by love, you can get Krishna. By speculation
nothing will happen. We need greed - lobha. We need this lobha. We
need lobha, really we need lobha for life. Lalasa, strong longing. Without
this lalasha, without this lobha you cannot get to this heart of Krishna
bhakti.

Krishna bhakti rasa bhavita matih, kriyatam yadi kuto ‘pi labhyate, Tatra
laulyam api mulyam ekalam, janma koti sukrair na labhyate.

[Padyavali 14, and Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya 8.70]

Wherever you find someone, or some place, with Krishna rasa bhakti,
immediately you should get it - you should rush buy it, and the only price
is greed, and this Krishna bhakti rasa you cannot get it any other way,
even in millions of lifetimes.

Ram Krishna Das Pandit Baba´s temple still there with this deity in there:
Bhagavat Nivas (nivas means house). It is very near to the Jiva institute,
in Vrindavan. There are so many, stories of siddha mahatmas. So many
millions of hidden nectarian stories.

A devotee asked ‘is it possible here in Europe, such kind of lila?’ and
Prabhupada Premgopal relied Why not? If you have such kinds of heart,
you can find Krishna here.”

22
 The Blessings of
4 Sri Guru
A devotee asked the question: In your previous talk about Krishna
prema you gave a fabulous explanation of how the guru is molding us.
We are like rough clay and the guru is picking out the sharp stones and
making us soft and smooth. I’d like to hear more about that.

This is a very nice topic; she is asking about Guru Tattva; a very nice
question. Why do we need guru in our life? What and who is real guru?
How will we get the blessings of Sri Guru in our life?

For all the followers of Sriman Mahaprabhu and for us, the most important
book is Prema Bhakti Chandrika (Narottam das Thakur) as well as
Chaitanya Charitamrita, Chaitanya Bhagavatam and others. All these
scriptures, if we look at them, we find they all start with guru pranam –
offering respects to Sri Guru. Prema Bhakti Chandrika starts with: sri
guru carana padma kevala bhakati sadma, bando mui savadhana mate,
jahara prasade bhai, e bhava toriya jai, krsna prapti haya jaha hoite –
(The lotus feet of Sri Guru are the treasure house of pure prema bhakti.
I worship his lotus feet with great care. By the mercy of Sri Guru, O
brother, one can easily cross over the ocean of material existence and
attain Sri Krishna). Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, first sloka - vande gurun
isa bhaktan isam isavatarakan, tat prakasams ca tac-chaktih krsna
caitanya samjnakam [Cc Adi lila 1.1] – (I offer my respectful obeisances
unto the spiritual masters (initiating and instructing gurus), unto the pure
devotees of the Supreme Lord, unto the incarnations of the Lord, unto
his various manifestations and unto the potencies of the Supreme Lord
Sri Krishna Chaitanya). Our mangala caranam (auspicious invocation)
starts with vande ‘ham sri guru – I offer my prayers of respect to Sri
Guru. Srila Rupa Goswami in his invocation sloka to Sri Radha-Krishna
Ganoddesh Dipika - vande guru pada dvandvam.

Why do we need this? Why do we need someone as guru? Guru will give
us some knowledge, isn’t it? He will give us some direction; you should
go this or that way, you should do like this or like that. Then, why can’t
we get this without guru? Because what guru can tell us, what he says,
we can get it all from the granthas, from books. From the scriptures. All
the mantras, all the instructions, what is good, bad, everything we have
to do; all this knowledge we can read in the scriptures by ourselves.

Then why accept guru? Why surrender to him? How do we surrender

to guru? It is written (that we have to surrender) with (a mood of)
sharanagati. Sharanagati is not a very simple word. There are six limbs in

24
sharanagati: anukulyasya sankalpa pratikulyasya varjanam, raksisyatiti
visvaso goptrtve varanam tatha, atma-niksepa-karpanye sad-vidha
saranagati (The six divisions of surrender are the acceptance of those
things favorable to devotional service, the rejection of unfavorable things,
the conviction that Krishna will give protection, the acceptance of the
Lord as one’s guardian or maintainer, full self-surrender, and humility).

First, anukulyasya sankalpa, we have to do all our activities in favour of

our guru. We have to take a vow that we will do only such activities that
he likes.

Second, pratikulyasya varjanam, we have to leave all activities that go

against him. Yatha guru ninda haya. tatha guru nindukera mukha kabhu
na heribe yatha haya guru-ninda tatha na yaibe. Where we will see that
somebody insults our guru, if we are able to speak against it, we will, if
we can’t, then we will leave this place (at once). We shouldn’t hear this,
otherwise we will do an offense against guru.

Then, raksisyatiti visvaso, we have to keep strong faith in him, one

hundred percent, that he will protect us. I am taking shelter of his lotus
feet and he will take care of me. How will I get this happiness and peace
in my mind? He will give it to me, Sri Gurudev will do this. In Bengal
there is one Muslim poet, he wrote a very nice song. He was a Muslim,
very famous, Nazarur Islam, but he had strong love for Krishna. This
song is very famous: hey govinda rako (raksha) carane - O my beloved,
sweet lord Krishna, Govinda, please give me shelter at your lotus feet.
And in this song there is one line: tava carana dariya tabo – ‘O Prabhu,
don’t forget this, if I get any problem in my life that I’ll just finish my life,
after I have taken shelter on your lotus feet, it does not matter to me,
but you know, you will be defamed. Everyone will say, look! This person
took shelter at the lotus feet of Krishna, but now he is finished. That’s
why you must take care of me. It is not for me, but for you!’ This is like a
challenge. We have to keep this kind of faith in guru, that he will protect
us, and to know that he is my protector.

goptritve varanam tatha – He is my maintainer and guardian. (I cannot

obtain anything, or even maintain myself, by my own endeavour. I will
serve Him to the best of my ability, and He will take care of me).

Then, atma niksepa, means throw yourself completely at his lotus feet
(be free of independent mood: “Who am I? I am His. My duty is to fulfill
His desire.”) There is one very nice example of how we should throw

25
ourselves. If you have one ball in your hand, then you can play with it,
for how long? When it is in your hand. If you throw it to someone, then
you no longer control the ball, to whom you throw the ball, he will control
it. In that way we have to throw ourselves at the lotus feet of Sri Guru
and Sri Krishna.

The last point, karpanye, means eagerness. Strong eagerness we need,

that “O Prabhu, I need your blessings. Without this, nothing will happen
in my life.” Strong eagerness. (Karpanye also means humility, not having
a sense of self-importance).

With these six qualities we have to take shelter on the lotus feet of
Sri Gurudev. Why? Who is guru? Is Guru an ordinary man? No. Guru
appears to be like a man. He looks like a man – two hands, two legs,
arms, two eyes, ears, same as us. But Guru is not a man, guru is tattva (A
spiritual principle). Guru is a truth, and this tattva we will find in this man
(it manifests in him) whom we accept as guru. In Srimad Bhagavatam,
Sri Krishna Himself said to his friend Sridam: acaryam mam vijaniyam
– “O Sridam, you must know your guru as me, Krishna. Navamanyeta
karhicit - never insult him. Don’t even think anything bad about him. Na
martya-buddhyasuyeta - don’t think in that way, that he is an (ordinary
mortal) man from this world. Yes, he looks like a man in front of you, but
you must know, inside of him there is guru tattva (he is a manifestation of
the guru principle).” That means Sri Krishna is there (acting through him).
(Krishna says:) “Through him I will bless all these jivas (living entities),”
through guru.

Na martya-buddhyasuyeta sarva deva mayo guruh - Don’t compare

yourself with your Guru. That I have this greater quality than him, or
that guru doesn’t know as much as me, like this in that way - sarva deva
mayo guruh - you must know your guru is a form (embodiment) of all the
demigods. All 33 million demigods are inside of him.

What will guru do for our life? Gu kara andhakara stho rekado niravastatha.
The word guru is made up from two syllables: gu and ru. Gu means
darkness, ignorance. Ajnana andhakara (The darkness of ignorance).
Ru – he who destroys our ignorance. He is Guru. Very significant word.
Guru means, if we take the whole word, ‘heavy’. Guru is heavy, not lagu
– light (weight). We have to think in that way. What will we get from guru
in our lives? First he will destroy all our andhakara, darkness, ignorance
(avidya). How? Through his blessings.

26
And then what will we get from him? Wealth? Because we are from
this material world, and we have so many needs in this material world.
Money, power, fame, and so many things we need for our lives. Can
guru give us all these material things as well? Yes, if we have this strong
faith in him. If we have strong faith that by guru’s blessings I can get all
things. When we get these blessings, will guru say, “Now I am giving
blessings to you?” No. When guru will look at you with a smiling face
that means guru is very pleased with you, that is his blessing. If we don’t
have his blessing, if we do something against him (if you displease him),
what can he do for you? We will just get nothing!

What does Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakurs says in this song? Yasya

prasadad bhagavat-prasado yasya aprasadan na gatih kuto ‘pi
(Gurvastakam 8). Only by the mercy of guru can you attain anything.
Without the mercy of guru you can get nothing and go nowhere.
“Go nowhere” means that you cannot even go to hell… Yes! In the
commentary it is written there: When you will go to hell, than the door of
hell will also be closed to you. “No, no, no! You are against guru! You did
guru offense. There is no place for you here also!” This is a place for all
the sinners, but not for guru aparadhis (offenders to guru): Na gatih kuto
pi (there is no destination for such a person).

By his blessing we can get everything. But when if displease him, we

won’t go anywhere, and won’t attain anything. There are so many
examples. If we look at our siddha mahatma’s (great perfected souls)
lives you can see these examples. In Gaudiya Vaishnava Jivani (The
lives of Gaudiya Vaishnava saints) there is one very nice example of a
small boy. Even though he was a little boy of seven or eight years, he
got some attachment for Krishna. He went from Bengal to Vrindavan,
and got initiated by one Guru of the Sringar Vat temple. It was about
150 years ago. They were also Nityananda vamsha. From their line he
got initiation, and he started to serve his guru. Because his guru had no
children, the guru and his wife accepted this boy as their own. He was
helping his Guruma and serving his guru. He had no knowledge, he
never went to school. That means he couldn’t even read. But he was
very pleased to serve his guru. Every day the guru would chat, exchange
harikatha with his friends. He was a very scholarly person, and all his
friends were also scholarly. Every evening they’d do some harikatha
about some topics from scriptures. And when they would do this the boy
would serve them all, giving tambula, water, sometimes some food. The
boy would serve the sadhus. One day it so happened that they couldn’t
reach the siddhanta, the conclusion. They decided to try again the next
27
day. Then the boy asked his guru, “Gurudev, please give me a chance,
I can try.” All the guru’s associates started laughing – “You cannot even
read, you never went to school, and you will tell us this conclusion?”

All the guru’s friends were laughing, but his Gurudev did not. He said
“no, no, no, that’s not good, we have to give him a chance. Ok, please
explain all the things that you realized.” Then, point by point, this boy
explained everything and reached the conclusion in the proper way. All
of them were surprised to see this. “How do you know all this? Have
you read the granthas (the scriptures)?” “No, because as you know, I
cannot read, I never went to school.” Then his Gurudev said, “OK, bring
me one canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. And he brought this grantha (book)
to his Gurudeva. Gurudev opened one chapter and asked the boy to try
to read this. Surprisingly, that boy could read all the slokas (verses). It is
written in devanagari, in Sanskrit letters. The boy who had no knowledge
of written Bengali was reading Sanskrit. This miracle happened by guru
kripa (guru’s mercy) Blessings of guru.

Ajnana timirandhasya jnanajana salakaya, caksur unmilitam yena tasmai

sri gurave namah – (I am blinded by the darkness of ignorance, but my
guru has mercifully opened my eyes, anointing them with the salve of
divine knowledge. I offer my humble obeisances to such a guru).

Sri Guru can destroy all our ignorance. He can open our inner eyes.
How? By gyana anjana. There is a stick-like instrument used to put
anjan on sick eyes, it is an ointment for the eyes, also called kajhal
(koliriyum). With this stick guru will put this kajhal on our eyes, meaning
this knowledge by which we can see everything, all the knowledge in our
lives. By his blessings we can attain this knowledge, pure knowledge
in our lives. Then we can get everything from this material world and
spiritual world also.

What will happen, if we just read from a grantha (a book) and we are
not taking shelter in guru? What will happen? And what will happen
after taking diksha (initiation)? In Narada Pancaratra it is said that in
all our activities, (prapanca), the first and most important activity for our
life, is taking initiation (diksha). That is the first and foremost thing in
our life. Samsmarja jataye samsaya siddhaye. When guru will give the
(diksha) mantra in your ear, all the siddhis (perfections) will come to
you. Suddenly they will stand up in front of you (begging to serve you).
Then you can attain all these siddhis very easily if you will just follow
the instructions of your guru. If we are not taking shelter of guru, and

28
just read the granthas (scriptures), and chant so many (times the Hare
Krishna) mantras, what will happen? Maybe guru will order us to chant
four rounds every day, maybe 108 every day, or minimum 10 times.
But if we are not going to guru (not taking the shelter and association of
guru) and by myself I chant this mantra 100,000 times every day, can I
attain these siddhis? No, never! vrte jaya santo tajapinoti. In this way you
can chant the mantra 100,000 times every day for one year, two years,
not only one yuga, for life after life you can chant, but you will never get
one drop of this siddhis, perfections – never (attaining) the target. This
is because we’ll not get this power of the mantra by reading it in a book.
We can only get the power of the mantra from guru. When guru gives us
this (diksha) mantra, then he infuses this power in us. Through him we
can get this power.

Is this power from this world? Is guru producing this power? No. Guru
is not producing this power. This power is directly coming down from
Bhagavan (Sri Krishna). Why do we need this diksha initiation tradition?
That’s because this power, first Bhagavan gave it to Brahma. Then
Brahma gave it to Narada, then Narada to Maharshi Vyasadeva. In this
way has come down, guru to guru. All the guru from our tradition are
the carrier of this power. They are not producing this power. They have
a duty to keep this power in a good way. That’s why the guru has to do
his bhajan very carefully, otherwise he loses this power, and he cannot
give prema to his disciples. He cannot spread this prema and this shakti
to his disciples.

Then, what are the (necessary) qualities of guru? From whom should
we get this initiation? First we have to feel this cool air in our heart just
to look at him. That is not that he must be very nice, beautiful, no. This
does not matter. No, what matters is, if we are feeling this cool air in our
heart or not. He must be sampana darshan, that means after seeing him
we’ll feel that yes, from him I can get something. I can attain this prema.
We have to feel this in our hearts. That he is (externally) beautiful, that
is beside the point.

He should be vipram, that means brahmana (has brahminical qualities).

Then bhakti krisnen krpa kuru - he must be a Krishna devotee, and he
must have the realisation of Krishna bhakti. If he has not this realization
about prema, about bhakti, about the service to Krishna and Srimati
Radharani, then he cannot give it to his disciples. That’s why guru has to
do his bhajan very carefully. He has to realize this first. If you don’t have
this realization you cannot give it to others.
29
Then the next point is vidyanam veda sastranam. He must know the
scriptures very well, with explanations. He must have this deeper
explanation of all the scriptural rules. Why does he need this? Why must
guru have all knowledge from Vedas, agamas, shastra (Vedic scriptures)?
Because if the disciple will get some problems with his sadhana, his
bhajan, he will ask the guru. If guru does not have this knowledge, then
guru can’t answer. This can cause a big problem, if it leads to us losing
faith in guru, or feeling critical of guru. (When you accept someone as
true guru, then you accept him as a representative of Krishna. Krishna
knows everything and He reveals everything to the guru that guru needs
to know, and guru reveals to us everything we need to know. For our
bhajan to prosper, we need to have complete faith in our guru. If we lose
confidence in our guru and feel critical of him, this is an aparadha – an
offence, that can destroy our bhajan). It is stated in Narada Pancaratra
that guru must know the scriptures, for his reason, otherwise because
of guru’s mistake, the disciple will go to hell! And guru has this duty to
protect his disciples in all ways.

The guru must be from a bona fide line, initiation tradition. Otherwise
we cannot get this power from him. He is the carrier of this power, from
this tradition, this power handed down from one to the next one, he must
come in a pure line otherwise we cannot get this bhakti and pure prema
in our heart. When you will get such a guru in front of you, you will be
dhyan sma pravesato. Narada Muni explained: When you will get such
a person, such an Acharya in front of you, then if you are intelligent, you
should take shelter of him.

Those are the qualities of guru. When you are looking, searching for guru,
you must see if he has all these qualities or not. Then we have the duty
to judge (examine) him. Sanatam Goswamipad, in Hari Bhakti Vilasa,
said very nicely these words that you should judge (examine) your guru
before initiation, until all your confusion, your doubts, should finish. Until
that time you should judge (test), you have to look at all these things.
After initiation you have no right to judge your guru. But there is also
another point; in Bhakti Sandarbha Jiva Goswami said: After initiation if I
found it was my mistake that I cannot judge my guru (I failed to examine
him properly), I cannot judge completely hundred percent, and I keep
strong faith in him, but after initiation I found something (was wrong);
he ordered me (something that) was against Shastra, all the scriptures
– because actually all the rules, all the advice from guru it must be from
(based on) scripture Otherwise, if we see that guru is doing something
against scripture, then we have to leave this guru.
30
In Bhakti Sandarbha you can see this topic about (a false) guru. There
it is written very clearly. If you see that he is doing some activities not
according to scriptures, or he is giving you instructions that are not
according to scriptures, then you should leave him.

“A guru who is envious of pure devotees, who blasphemes them, or

behaves maliciously towards them should certainly be abandoned,
remembering the verse ‘guror api avaliptasya’. Such an envious guru
lacks the mood and qualities of a Vaisnava guru. The sastras enjoin that
one should not accept initiation from a non-Vaisnava. Knowing these
injunctions of the scriptures, a sincere devotee should abandon a false
guru who is envious of the pure devotee. After leaving a false guru, if a
devotee is without a spiritual guide, his only hope is to seek out a maha-
bhagavata Vaisnava and serve him. By constantly rendering service to
such a pure devotee, one will certainly attain the highest goal of life.”
(Bhakti-Sandarbha 238 Jiva Gosvami’s commentary on the verse guror
apy avaliptasya (Mahabharata, Udyoga parva 179.25)

At inititiation, the guru takes all bad things from us, and gives us all good.
A guru may (mercifully) accept a disciple, knowing that the disciple is
not acting in a good way, because he knows that by practicing bhakti
one day the disciple will change. That is the mercy of the guru. Because
all the reactions from what the disciple is doing will come to guru. They
have not to offer – automatically it will happen. Good will not go to guru
– all the bad will go to guru. guru will give all the good to you, and all the
bad things he will take away from you.

(Devotees all say, ‘Thank you very much!’)

Guru is getting this power from Bhagavan. That is why he has to do his
bhajan very carefully. He has to maintain so many things, otherwise he
cannot digest all these things. Guru has to have the power to digest all
these bad things, even all the sins of his disciples will go to guru. Guru
has this duty to burn all the anarthas (unwanted things in the heart). If he
has not this power, then he will die from all this. He has to digest it all. He
cannot reject this and say to his disciples, “No, I can’t take this.”

Question: So when guru agrees to initiate us, to take us on, he is

agreeing to do all this for us?

Answer: Yes. By initiation, you will get all the good things from your guru,
and at the same time this exchange will happen, all the bad things will
go to your guru.
31
Question: These principles you have been talking about, is it only
related to Vaishnava gurus?

Answer: No. All gurus, from any tradition. Traditions differ, but guru is
guru.

Question: but in Kali yuga, true guru is rare?

Answer: Yes that’s why you can see, many gurus are falling down from
their path. I am not saying any names, but you can see everywhere,
many gurus are falling down from their path.

Question: If you see a guru doing things really wrong, by any

standard – then the best thing is to keep away from them? For
example like this guru did abuse on some children, and others
are carrying on treating him like a guru, make an excuse for this
behavior, but it couldn’t be anything other than wrong, and it is not
possible to do anything about this, then the best thing to do is keep
away from the whole group?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Can guru take (away) the karma of even a murderer?

Answer: If he has the power, then guru can take it (away).

Question: Do you feel ill, when you give this initiation?

Answer: Yes, so many times. Suddenly I feel it, then I ask, what did you
do in your life?

I will tell a story about my father. I was also there, at that time. In
Bangladesh. One man came to take initiation, and he was perhaps over
hundred years old, maybe 108 years. When he came, he was accepted
for initiation, but all the other disciples (of Premgopal’s father) who
arranged the program, they rejected this – we will not allow Prabhu to
give this initiation. Then one of this man’s great-grandsons went to my
father - he first went to me and I sent him to my father - and he said, my
great-grandfather wants to take initiation but they (your disciples) are
not allowing him. And my father said, “Oh no, I will give him initiation
tomorrow.” Then the next day that old man came, and just after my
father gave him initiation, he (my father) fell down (unconscious) from
his asana. Then after a few minutes he woke up, sat up and asked that
man, “What did you do in your life?” I was right there, because when I

32
saw my father falling down from his asana, I just ran there, and when
my father asked “What did you do in your life?” then the man’s grandson
said that he was a very cruel person. By his own hand, he killed more
than 50 people. He was like a big landlord, and at the same time he was
a dacoit. He did all the bad karmas (sinful activities) in his life. And when
he got initiation, my father had to take all his karma.

Q: So, when somebody like that comes, and he is humble, guru has
to accept him?

A: Yes, yes. Guru has no right to reject. He can prepare him. Ok, I’ll give
you initiation later, until then, you must do this (practice), or he can give
initiation directly.

Q: Your father gave him initiation right away out of compassion,

because the man was so old?

A: Yes. That’s why. And you know, the surprising thing was, soon after
that old man got this initiation, three months later, he died.

Devotee: He got purified, he was ready to go.

A: Yes. This is the reaction, this exchange, and it will happen only with
this tradition (bona fide line), if you get this diksha, then this exchange
will happen. Otherwise this exchange will not happen, and realization
will not come, this prema will not come in your life. That’s why we need
guru in our lives, because we do not have the ability to digest these all
things, all the karma. In Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said to Arjuna,
a-brahma-bhuvanal lokah punar avartino ’rjuna mam upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate (BG 8.16)]

“Oh Arjuna, everyone has to come back here. Everyone has to run in
circles.” Samsara. But Krishna said, “I will take such person who will
come near to me. I will take such a person out from this cycle, then
he will not be reborn here. Then he will not have to come back.” Who
can destroy all his karma? This karma can only be destroyed by guru’s
blessings; no one else can do this. That’s why we need a guru in our
lives. Without guru we cannot get this perfection, we cannot get all these
things (spiritual benefits) in our lives.

Joy Nitai!

33
The Power of the
Hare Krishna 5
Mahamantra
W hy do we chant this Mahamantra? What benefit will we get from this
in our lives? What is the power of the Mahamantra?

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,

Krishna Krishna , Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

First of all, this Hare Krishna Mahamantra is the mantra for Kali Yuga,
(the age, or era, we are living in). There are four yugas (ages), and each
yuga has one specific mantra. For Kali yuga, the specific mantra is the
Hare Krishna Mahamantra. It is the target, and the means to get there:

Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam,

kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha
[C.C. Adi 17.21]

In Kali yuga, there is no another target, only Mahamantra. If we take

shelter of Mahamantra, then we can get everything: nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha ‘There is no other way, there is no other way,
there is no other way.’

And if we compare with the other yugas, then we will find something
very surprising: only here in Kali yuga, this mahamantra is the goal, and
also the means to achieve the goal. Both sadhya and sadhana. It is
the goal, sadhya – (God Himself), and it is the means – the sadhana,
(the spiritual practice, by which we can attain or realize God). You can
worship harinama. Harinam, this mahamantra, is Brahma himself, and
by mahamantra you can get Parabrahma, Sri Krishna. By the power of
the Mahamantra you can get Sri Gauranga and Nityananda. It is very
powerful.

If you will chant Harinam Mahamantra without offence you can get
anything in your life:

Niraparadhe nama laile paya prema-dhana [CC Antya 4.71]

(If one chants the holy names without offences one obtains the treasure
of prema).

We need the supreme, highest prema (divine love) in our life, and we
can attain this prema, by performing nirapharad Nam. (Nam without any
faults, any offence). Sriman Mahaprabhu, Sri Krishna Chaitanya, He

35
wrote with His own hand about the power of Harinam Mahamantra in
Siksastakam 1st sloka:

Ceto darpana marjanam bhava maha davagni nirvapanam

Sreyah kairava Candrika vitaranam vidya vadhu jivanam
Anandarabudhi vardhanam prati padam purnamrtasvadanam
Sarvatma snapanam param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam

Ceto darpana marjanam: Harinam has the power to clear, to clean, our
minds. There is a mirror inside us, but this mirror now is contaminated,
dirty, that’s why we cannot see ourselves there. If this mirror will be dirty,
we cannot see anything. So we are proud about this material world. We
are not thinking that we are Krishna das, we are not thinking that we are
the little servant of Sri Gauranga Nityananda. We are always thinking that
‘I am Premgopal!’ like this. This false ego will clear by Harinam. Harinam
will clear all this dirt from our mirror, and when this contamination will go
out from our heart, then we can realize who we are, what is our eternal
duty, why are we here, what is our ultimate target.

Harinam will first clear this all things from our chitta, our mind. Chitta
means heart, and also subconscious mind. Because this chitta is
very important for us. We are searching for pleasure, and after some
time we´ll reject it. Why? Because of this subconscious mind. We are
searching. (See chapter 2 ‘Looking for Happiness’). Because our heart
always will compare this happiness, this pleasure, to eternal pleasure,
we keep searching. But our mirror is dirty, that’s why we can’t know that
we have to go inside. We are searching here in this material word. When
our ceto darpana, (the mirror of) our heart, our subconscious mind, will
be clear, no longer contaminated or dirty, then we can see the truth, we
can see ourselves, we can see our svarupa, and know that we are all
the servants of Krishna, we are all anucit (minute parts of God). We are
not really separate from Him, we are connected. The first work (effect) of
harinam when we start chanting or doing harinam kirtan is cleaning the
mirror of the heart, this chitta.

Next, He (the holy name) will give ointment for us. Why do we need
ointment? Because we are suffering: bhava maha davagni nirvapanam
– Chanting the holy name extinguishes the blazing forest fire of material
existence. Fire is always burning us - the samsara fire. There are so
many problems from this material world, so much suffering. We are
always burning by this. When we take shelter of the maha-mantra,
harinam, then the mantra will stop this fire. He (Krishna who is non-

36
different from his name) will sprinkle water, cold water, on the fire.
And he will put some ointment, by which we can be relieved. The
Mahamantra, he will stop this forest fire, this davagni. Why a forest fire?
First, they (forest fires) can start by themselves; no one needs to start
the fire. Our sensations, all our activities, they themselves can create the
fire (of suffering). Second, you cannot control this forest fire. From one
corner it will start and it will finish the whole forest. It is the same in our
life when this bhava maha davagni will start, then if we are not careful
we will be finished by this. Harinam Mahamantra, when we take shelter
of him, he will stop this fire.

Then sreyah kairava candrika vitaranam vidya vadhu jivanam (Harinam

spreads the moon rays of good fortune, of bhakti, for the benefit of all
living beings). At night, we need the moon. If we have no light, we cannot
walk in a dark night. We need some light. If the moon is in the sky then
we can go anywhere. In daytime, in the very hot summertime, the sun will
not give a cool sensation. But by moon rays we do not get any burning
sensation like from the sun. If the sun is very strong, then we have to
search for some shade, we have to go there. But in the moonlight we do
not have to search for shelter. Also we will feel some nectar. According
to scriptures, some nectar falls down always in the moon rays. This
moon nectar is called sudha. So Sri harinam mahamantra is like a moon.
He will light (illuminate) everywhere internal and external, both. He will
destroy all darkness. And also by this, by this moon ray of harinam, we
can get nectarian feelings of bliss.

Here in this world, the moon has some kalanka (spots). You know
kalanka? If you will look at the moon you can see some spots, dark
spots. This moon has kalanka, that means this spots - but this nama
para-bhraman, he is spotless. By this nama brahma, you can destroy
the darkness of your ignorance. The mantra will destroy, you have not to
do anything, you only have to chant Mahamantra. You have only just to
try to chant Mahamantra with respect, without offence. By this light, by
this brahma-moon-rays, the darkness of our ignorance is destroyed, and
then we can get knowledge. Vidyavadhujivanam - pure knowledge, by
which knowledge we can destroy our false ego.

The knowledge we will get in our life is that we are the servant of Krishna.
We have this duty to serve Him, we have this duty to please Him. When
we will chant Mahamantra, then we will get this knowledge. Otherwise,
we can listen, we can read everything, all this you can find in the
granthas also. But you will not realize (really know) what they are saying.
37
Realization, knowing, will come after we will take shelter of Mahamantra.
By his kripa, by his mercy. Mahamantra will give us this realization, that
we need to chant and we need to take shelter on Mahamantra.

Anandarabudhi vardhanam: When you chant, you can realize these things
automatically. Maybe you have no respect for Mahamantra, maybe you
have no knowledge about Mahamantra, what is Mahamantra. But if you
chant, suddenly ananda (bliss) will come to you, pure ananda will come to
you. And such kinds of ananda will come to you that sometimes you will
cry to feel them. By Mahamantra you will get this ananda. By chanting,
you will get ananda, and even only by seeing this namabrahma.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,

Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Only to see these letters, you can get ananda, bliss. In any language, this
not matter. Maybe it is not in your language, but just if you realize that
this is Mahamantra, you will get this happiness. If you do kirtan, why you
are jumping? Sometimes we are not even dancing, we are jumping! We
are dancing, we are cheering: Hare Krishna! Haribol! Why we are doing
this? It is coming from our heart. But why? Whoever enjoys this kirtan,
they will get this ananda, pure ananda. You have not to think anything.
Just do it. Nama will give you his blessing, his mercy. Harinam will bless
you. Then you will realize everything. After time it will come, for anyone.
Anandarabudhi vardhanam - Anandham amudivardhanam: Amu means
ocean. Never ending ananda – an ocean of bliss. Suddenly you will get
in your heart. If you will connect always with this Mahamantra, then this
ocean is yours. Then, all this realization, all this feeling is yours, it is
there for all performers in bhakti.

prati padam purnamrtasvadanam: this is very nice, this poem: every

letter, every word, will give you bliss, all these words, they have thirty-
two letters, sixteen words:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare (eight words),
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (sixteen words).

Sixteen words, thirty-two letters, and from every word, you will get
separate, different ananda (bliss). If you will just chant only Hare Hare
Hare Hare Hare, you will get some ananda. If Krishna, Krishna, Krishna,
Krishna, you will get ananda, but not like the first one. And this all ananda,
38
it´s 100 percent. Purnamrtasvadanam (relishing or tasting full nectar).
You will get this pleasure, you will get this taste like nectar. Nectarian
bliss, you will feel in your heart. One hundred percent nectarian bliss,
nectarian ananda. When you chant, when you see, when you do kirtan
of Mahamantra, then this Purnamrtasvadanam will come. Every word
and every letter, prati padam, (every part) will give you this 100 percent
ananda. It is not that from this word you will get some little bit, from this
word you will get some more; no. Same percentage but different. Nama
is the same quality as Krishna.

Sarvatma snapanam param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam:

Sarva atmasnaparam: by harinam we can take a bath, a bath for our soul.
Externally by taking a bath we can clean ourselves, we can get cooled,
we can feel we are pure now. Mahamantra is the same, he will do some
abhishek (shower) of our soul. By Mahamantra we can purify ourselves
internally.

Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam. By Sri Krishna Sankirtan we can

defeat all our senses. Because by chanting the Mahamantra, we can get
all the senses as followers.

Sri Harinama Mahamantra, Sri Nama, and Sri Krishna, both are the same
qualities. Sometimes, Mahamantra is more powerful than Sri Krishna.
Namirtek nam bolo. Nam is more powerful than namir, that means the
man - Krishna. There is a very nice example to illustrate this. It happened
with my great grandfather, Prabhupada Prangopal Goswami. At that
time, everyone knew him by his name. One day it happened that he had
to go somewhere by steamer in East-Bengal. And he has to do some
things and he said this to this controller, the sailor of the steamer, “you
should wait some time for me.” But this sailor, he did not know, he is
Prabhu Prangopal. He said, “no no no, I cannot wait for you.” Then one
of Prabhu’s disciple, he said this to the sailor: “hey what are you doing,
Prabhupada Prangopal Goswami is requesting you to wait, and you are
rejecting him?”

The sailor exclaimed, “ Prabhupada? Prabhupada! he is Prabhupada

Prangopal Goswami?!”

“Yes!”

“Oh Prabhu, Sorry, sorry Prabhupada, I just made a mistake, Ok? Ok,
you will do your work, I will wait for you.”

39
When he agreed, Prabhupada turned to his disciple and he said: “See,
that is the proof! Name is more powerful than the man - Namirtek nam
bolo.”

Similarly, Harinam Mahamantra is more powerful than Krishna sometimes.

If you will do some offence against Krishna, you can take shelter on
Harinam. Yes! He will destroy your offence. He will do everything for
you that time. But if you will do some aparadha to harinam then if you
will go to Krishna, can he clear this offence? No. Then you have to go
to Gurudev! (All the devotees and Prabhupada laugh!) For an offence
against Sri Krishna, Harinam will give you relief from this offence.
Harinam has such power, if you do harinam without any offence, then
you will get prema. If you are not doing this in that way without offence or
without respect, then also you will get results. Harinam has such power.
But how? What is this harinam? Very nicely it was said that: Madhuram
madhuramangala mangalanam. In this world, if you will search all the
beautiful things, harinam is the most beautiful. Madhuram madhuranam,
mangalam, mangalanam. If you will search about all the auspicious
things, then you will find: harinam will also do something auspicious for
all auspicious things.

For example, there are some rules for all pujas, you know? All pujas.
If you are doing Krishna puja, or any demigod’s puja, at the end of the
puja, you have to chant Harinam to pray for forgiveness. Why? Because
you will do so many mistakes in this puja, by ignorance, and you have
to pray to Krishna, not to the Demigod who you were just doing puja for.
“Oh Prabhu please take away all these faults, all these mistakes. Maybe
in this puja I did so many mistakes. I´m chanting your name and by
this name, maybe, please, and for this, you should take away all these
faults from here for all this mistakes from here.” Yadushangam kritam
karmajnana tadatva janata tat sharbankriyatan yatahare ranumanekrita.
After all pujas you have to chant this mantra, and then you have to chant
three times harinam. If you will not do this, then this puja is incomplete.
You have to pray for forgiveness, then you have to chant harinam three
times. Then your puja will be finished, and will get a hundred percent
benefit from this. Harinam has such power, to give auspiciousness to
other auspicious things.

Sokolo nigomo bolita sak palam cit svarupam: Nigomo boli means the
trees of scriptures. If you will look at the fruits of these scripture trees, then
you will find the best fruit is Harinam Mahamantra. Taking these fruits can
give you sat falam sad, pure knowledge, eternal knowledge, and after you
40
take this sat falam, you will get this cit, in your heart. The pure knowledge
of Krishna.

Sak krita piparigitam sraddhaya heloyava: If you will chant only one time
(sak krit), - you have not to chant hundred times, a thousand times. If you
will chant only one time, with respect or without respect.

Naromatram tarayet krishna nama brigavaro naromatram tarayot krishna

nama. Harinam will not search from where you were born, from which
family, you were born. Maybe you are from very high cast, maybe very
low cast, in front of harinam everyone is the same. He will give this mukti
(liberation, freedom): naromatran taraet, he will give us mukti. If you will
chant Harinam only one time, whoever you are, you can get mukti. If
you just chant harinam by the guidance of guru, then you will never go
to hell. If you chant Harinam, it can destroy more sin than you can do in
your whole life. Only by chanting one time harinam! E Krishna name joto
pabhore, jiver sadhonay toto pabkore - One time chanting harinam is
capable destroying more sin than we can commit in one lifetime.

There is a very nice example in Ajamil Bhakan.. In Srimad Bhagavata,

sixth canto, there is a conversation between Yamadhuta and Vishnudhuta.
(Yamadhuta are the servants Dharmaraj and they take you to hell, and
the servants of Sri Vishnu are known as Vishnudhuta – they take you to
Vishnu’s place - heaven).

There was a brahmana called Ajamila who lived in Kamyakubja. Later

in his life he did so many bad things, so many sins. In his early life, he
was a very good devotee of Bhagavan, Sri Hari, but by bad association,
he began bad activities which destroyed all the benefits of his bhajan.
(He lost his sadachara, all the activities that purify you for your sadhana
or spiritual activities) and from this, one after one, he lost all his good
qualities. (Sadachara means literally ‘truthful behavior’). Without living in
this way, by proper sadachara, our consciousness is lowered, meaning
that good consciousness, the desire to do seva, to exchange love with
others, all disappear. And this man started by bad association to lose
his sadachara, and then from this to do all the sins: robbery, stealing,
beating others, giving pain without any cause to others. In this way, he
spent his life.

When he was more than eighty years old, then one day he got this
causeless blessing from one devotee, from Narada muni. Narada
was passing by his house and he saw that Ajamila was seated in his

41
courtyard with his little son seated on his lap. And Narada muni saw
that he was really loving this son. Devarsi Narada remembered that
this man had been a very good devotee, who lost everything by bad
association. Narada knew that bhakti was there in his heart in a hidden
way. Bhakti will never be destroyed; when one time bhakti will get in your
heart, it will never leave, only if you will do unfavourable things, if your
all activities will be against bhakti, then bhakti will hide herself, become
covered. Whenever she will get some care, then again she will manifest.
So Narada, he told himself “this man was very nice devotee, but he lost
everything. But bhakti is still there in his heart. I should try one time, to
take him back on bhakti path.” And he went to Ajamila. He asked, “how
are you?” “Yes, I am fine.” “Are Ajamila, I am seeing so many boys there,
they are from the neighbours?” “No no no, they are all my children.”
“And this one? On your lap?” “Yes, this also mine.” “Oh very nice boy,
I never saw such kind of beautiful boy anywhere. You know, I can go
everywhere, I have seen so many children from the Demigods, I have
seen so many children from the Gandharvas, but I never have seen such
kind of beautiful boy anywhere.”

Devarshi Narada, he was searching how he could help this man who had
lost his good consciousness. Because when someone has lost his good
consciousness, he will not accept your good advice. That is the power of
maya. Maya will never give you this consciousness, she will try always to
force you to reject (anything that would free you). So Devarshi Narada,
he was searching, which way can I help this man? And he thought, Ok,
maybe by this boy. And when he started to give some good word for this
boy, Ajamila´s heart was softened towards Devarshi Narada. Devarshi
said: “Oh Ajamila, you know to see the boy, I got some desire in my
mind….but no, just leave it…!” And Ajamila said “no no no, you have to
say now what you were thinking!” and Narada said, “no no no it´s ok, it´s
ok.” Then Ajamil said “no no no, please say this!” So Devarshi Narada
said “OK. You know, I have this desire to give him a name, because I
never have seen such a beautiful boy anywhere.”

“Yes?” said Ajamila. ‘That will be very good for this boy, it would be like
a blessing from you.” But Narada said “no no no, I will give some name
but you will call him by another name. Then it would be like an insult to
me.” In this way drawing Ajamila in. And Ajamil said “no no no, Narada
Devarshi, I´m promising you, whatever name you will choose for this
boy, I´ll call him by this name. Yes, I´m promising you. I´ll call him by
your name.”

42
“Ok, then, I´m giving this boy the name Narayan. You must call him
Narayan.” “Ok Ok. I´ll call him by this name.” The way was clear, and he
gave this name to the boy. Narada Muni saw that Ajamila would chant
this name always - he has true love and strong attachment to this boy,
so he will call always this name: Narayan, Narayan.

Narada Muni disappeared from this place. And Ajamila, whenever he

would go anywhere, he always would chant: Narayana come to me,
Narayan come, we will go outside, Narayan take some water, take
your food, Narayan it is time for sleeping, always Narayana, Narayana.
In this way his life was ending. And at the end of life there is a stage
between life and death. There is one stage, you cannot say anything,
but you can listen, you can see everything, a subconscious stage.
Abottadasha subconscious stage. That time, in the subconscious stage,
between life and death, suddenly he saw three men come to him looking
very ugly, fierce and frightening. And to see this three men (they were
yamadhutas), he was really scared in his heart, not for him, for Narayan.
Because he knew that Narayan was playing in the courtyard. He thought
maybe these men will give some problem, maybe they will kill Narayana,
kill my Narayan. And then he shouted: “Narayana, Narayana!” He was
shouting only to call this boy. But this calling entered in the ear of Sri
Hari, Bhagavan, you know. Because this calling was with some love.
And Narayan, Sri Hari, he thought “oh, maybe my devotee, he got some
problem by anyone!” He sent his dhutas, four dhutas “go and see who is
giving problem to my devotee! Do something for him!

So these Vishnudhuta, Narayana dhuta, they just appeared in front of

Ajamila. So now there were three Yamadhuta and four Vishnudhuta.
To see the Vishnudhuta, (they are four handed with weapons, very
heavy!), the Yamadhuta were fearful about this. “Hey, who are you?” the
Yamadhuta ask to the Vishnudhuta, “why you came here?” Vishnudhuta,
they ask: “that is our question, who are you, why you are here? Why you
are giving problem to my Prabhu´s devotee?” The Yamadhuta said: “oh!
he is not Prabhu´s devotee!” “Yes, he is Prabhu´s devotee!” “no no no!
we know very well, because Citragupta, our headclark in Yamaloka he
said this! This man, he did so many sin in his life, always, physically, by
speaking, by mind. In this three ways, he did so many sin in his life, that’s
why we three are here. We came here to take him to Yamaloka and our
Prabhu will give him punishment. Because he did so many things.”

“Oh” said the Vishnudhuta. “Only you just see that he performed all
sins? you have never see that he do so much sadhana to clear all his
43
sins?” “no no no, he never did anything. We know very well. That’s why
Citragupta sent us.” “You have seen that he did so many sins in his life,
but you have not seen that he did things to clear from his sin, to get relief
from this sin? He did prascitta (Atonement)?” “no no no, he never did any
prascitta in his life.” “You did not see? Just sometime before he chanted
Narayana, Narayana!”

“Oh, you made some mistake! He was not calling Prabhu, your Prabhu
Narayana Bhagavan, he was calling his son!” “Oh you are so foolish, you
have not this knowledge about the power of Prabhu´s Name? You have
not to chant his name only to think that you are chanting His name! You
know the Nam has such power. You have not to chant to think about
Him, you can chant anyhow.”

Because you know, even if you will just accidentally hear his name, you
will get relief from all your sin. Maybe not even all His name, shakrit: This
total Nam, maybe you are going somewhere, and somewhere kirtan was
going on. And you are passing by in a car, at very high speed. And
Krishna Nama was there. When you were just passing by this temple,
only the ‘Kri,’ it entered in your ears, but not the ‘sna’. But you will still
get this result, the benefits of the holy name. Maybe you will chant the
name with distance (between the syllables). Even, you are reading one
book and the first word of the book was, maybe ‘Kri’ and the last word of
this book maybe ‘sna’, you will get the result. If you´ll read the total book,
you will get the benefit to read the name of Krishna. Krishna will delete
all the middle words, he will accept this ‘Kri’ and ‘sna’. He will give you,
send you, the benefits of this name.

Anyhow, if one time you´ll chant Mahamantra, anyhow - with respect, or

without respect, you will get the benefits. Maybe you have not this ability
to speak, you have some problem with your tongue, you cannot chant
Krishna, maybe chanting Kishto, Kishno. (Or in China: Klishna!) Anyhow.
We may not have not the ability to chant properly, but will still get the
benefits, the benefits from Krishna Nam. So when he did his prascitta,
to chanting the Prabhu´s name, namabashe napitoshandabane,
namabashe napitoshandabane. That means, if you´ll chant nam,
mahamantra, Harinam, and you are not thinking about this, it is called
abhash - the shadow of the name. If you´ll chant in that way also then
you will get benefits. For example maybe you are reading the name
of one shop: Krishna Stores, Govinda. Here in Europe you will find so
many prasad restaurants called Govinda, Gopala, here also in Prague
also the have Gopal. If you read the name of the restaurant, also you get
44
benefit. This is namabhas. Even by namabhas you can please Krishna.

And you know what happened at the end of Ajamila’s life? After the
conversation between the Vishnudhuta and the Yamadhuta, the
Vishnudhuta, they sent back all the Yamadhuta, and they said to Ajamila:
“Ajamila, you got the pure mercy of Prabhu, and he will give you a little
more lifetime. A second chance. Do not misuse this time.” Then Ajamila,
he left his house and immediately went to the forest and started this
same sadhana, namasadhana. (Chanting of harinam, the holy name).
And when this little extra lifetime was ended, then a very nice golden
chariot came to him with one Vishnudhuta. And this Vishnudhuta, he
said: “oh Ajamila, now your life is finished, now Prabhu is waiting for you,
and that’s why He sent this golden chariot for you.”

“Prabhu sent this golden chariot for me?” “Yes, Prabhu loves you!
Prabhu has strong love for you, that´s why he sent this golden chariot.”
“Ajamila, he was just climbing into this chariot, but he got a thought: “oh
Vishnudhuta! I cannot go!” “Why?” “You know, because of all of you,
and because of Devarshi Narada, I got this chance to do some sadhana,
because of devotees I got this chance to do some things for Prabhu.
But my forefathers, maybe they did not get this chance in their life. That
means they are not in Prabhu’s Dhama. So I do not want to go there
alone. I will just go back and tell my payer to my Prabhu, that please
send me to the place where my forefathers are waiting, I want to join
them. Without all of them I do not want to go alone there in Ananda
Dham, Vaikuntha.”

Then the Vishnudhuta said: “Ajamila, Prabhu always wants to give to all
his devotees pure happiness. And he knows this, that maybe you will
not get some pleasure there alone in his Ananda Dham, that´s why he
is taking all your forefathers there before you. Look, you can see!” Then
Ajamila saw a big golden chariot going towards Vaikuntha (heaven) and
in this golden chariot were all his forefathers. Then the Vishnudhuta said
“Ajamila, Nama has such power that if you will chant, if you will do this
sadhana, namasadhana, then you will get liberation, He will give liberation
to all your forefathers, all your lineage, all your descendants and all your
present connected persons. By Nama, they will all get benefits by your
sadhana, all of them, because you are a vaisnava.

So even by accidental hearing of the name, all sin is destroyed. But

this is just a general result, and we are not searching for this general

45
result. We want to attain prema; we are doing all this to attain this seva
for Krishna for Yugal, Radha Govinda. So for us, we have to chant this
Mahamantra without offence. We have to be very respectful about this.
We have to always know that the name we are chanting is not an ordinary
name. This name is our goal, and this name is our medium to achieve
our goal at the same time. By the Name you will get prema, by the
Name you will get seva, service of Sri Krishna. This is why Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu, he gave us this name. In the other yugas, there are many
ways to do sadhana, to achieve prema, realization of divine love. But,
we are really so fortunate, although we have not the qualities needed to
do serious bhajan - Here in Kali yuga, Kalerdoshanidher ragenmastehi
ekamahanguna. We are full of faults, there are no good qualities, we
do not have the ability to give one hundred percent consciousness to
Him. That´s why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he appeared, to give us this
causeless blessing by which we can attain this (prema, Divine service)
very easily, more easily than in all other yugas.

There is in this Kali yuga one very nice quality. This quality is not present
in the other yugas - satya, treta, dvapar. If we just take a vow for doing
something good, we will get some benefit from that, from just taking the
vow, sankalpa. For instance, we are just thinking, deciding, “ok, I´ll do
every day sixteen rounds of harinam.” We are not chanting, we have
not started yet, but only to fix your mind, only to take this vow, “I´ll chant
sixteen rounds every day”, you will get some benefits. Only by thinking.
That is a special mercy in Kali yuga. For all Kali people, and we can use
this, it is such a good opportunity. Maybe in our life we will not get so
many chances to do good, but we can take a vow. It means, even if our
intention is there but for some reason we can´t keep the vow, still the
intention will give us some benefits.

To get the full benefit, we have to take care about our bhajan. If we
want to do this in Kali yuga, then we have to fix our mind on Harinam,
on the Mahamantra. Before taking shelter on Guru, Harinam will giving
purification, he will take all your darkness, he will give you some relief
from this material world, from this burning sensation. And after taking
shelter of the lotus feet of Sri Guru, all the instructions of Sri Gurudev
will be beneficial with Harinam, (not without Harinam). So Harinam will
support your bhajan, and prema, you will achieve after you take shelter
on guru. Service you will get after you will take shelter on guru. That is
the power of Sri Mahamantra, Harinam Mahamantra. That´s why we

46
have no other way, in this Kali yuga - Harer nama harer nama harer
namaiva kevalam, kalau nasty eva naty eva nasty eva gatir anartha.

We have only one way in front of us, only to take shelter on Harinam.

Haribol!!!

47
 I Made My
6
Heart Vrindavan
You only need strong desire for Krishna in your heart. It does not matter
where you are – you could be in Vrindavan, or here in Europe.

There is a nice verse from Sri Caitanya Caritamrita:

anyera hridaya—mana, mora mana—vrindavana, ‘mane’ ‘vane’ eka kari’

jani, tahan tomara pada-dvaya, karaha yadi udaya, tabe tomara purna
kripa mani [Madhya 13.137]

(Speaking in the mood of Srimati Radharani, Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,

“For most people, the mind and heart are one, but because My mind is
never separated from Vrindavana, I consider My mind and Vrindavana to
be one. My mind is already Vrindavana, and since You like Vrindavana,
will You please place Your lotus feet there? I would deem that Your full
mercy.”)

So devotees pray, ‘Oh Prabhu, (God, Lord), I have not such qualities to
go to your holy place, I have not this ability, I am unqualified, asha marta,
but you know Prabhu by your blessings, by your mercy, I made my heart
Vrindavan, I made my heart Vrindavan; please, come here.’

Where there is Krishna katha (talks about Krishna), where there is Gaura
katha, (talks about Gauranga) this place is Vrindavan, is Nabadwip. We
are talking about Krishna here, so this place is Vrindavan now. In Europe,
this place (a small village outside Prague) is Vrindavan; in Europe, this
place is Nabadwip – you only have to feel it here, in your heart.

You don’t have to go anywhere. If you go somewhere, to many different

places, then your mind will get so many problems; some will say this,
some will say that, some will say other things, and all this can make you
pagal - puzzled, crazy. You will start to think, what I should do? That’s
good, this is not good, no, that is better. The habit of collecting (too much)
knowledge from so many places, this habit is named vallabha grahita. It
is very dangerous for our life. A person with such a habit will not accept
any one (authority), he will not take anyone’s word, because there are
so many kinds of thinking, so many philosophies, so many realizations.
That’s why Narottam Das Thakur said we should follow our acharya’s,
from our tradition; your guru, your param guru, your paratparam guru,
your parameshti guru, you should follow their footsteps. maha janer ye
patha – Whatever example is set by great personalities, one should
follow.

We have to be very careful about our bhajan. How do we do this? You

49
have to go the way your guru, your param guru, your paratparam guru,
your parameshti guru, they followed. We have to follow them. We have
to be very careful not to miss their footsteps. If we follow this, then we
can achieve prema in our life, otherwise we will get craziness; we will
never get prema and realization, these feelings, in our life.

Yes, we can collect so much knowledge; we can read so many granthas

(books). Grantha reading and collecting knowledge is good, but then
you have to filter, you have to compare. No one has the right to say any
things about any other tradition. We should not criticize other traditions,
“Oh you are doing wrong!” No! You have no right to say this. Why? First
of everything you have to all about know what tradition he is following.
And every tradition has a special mood. You are from one tradition, and
you are talking with someone from another tradition, you have no right
to say something to him and he has no right to say some things to you,
that you are wrong. No! You have no right to say this. Yes, you can say
such things which are non-scriptural. “Hey what are you doing, it is not
according to the scriptures,” But about the mood, you have no right to
say anything about this. You should not think in that way. No! You have
to fix your mind on the words of your own Guru. (Do not waste time
criticizing other traditions, other moods).Then you can get realization,
and you can get these feelings in your life.

We need knowledge for our bhajan, otherwise it will not support us,
so many different conclusions will come – just as a stick can help to
support a person doing parikrama, knowledge can help your bhajan.
Collecting knowledge is good, but we have to know which knowledge we
are collecting. We have very little time in our life; we shouldn’t go with
so many things, only we have to go to the centre. “What will support me
in achieving my target?” We should go with that. In this way knowledge
will help us to develop our bhajan and we can realize everything. In the
biographies of siddha mahatmas, how they followed all these things.
They never followed anything that is against the scriptures, they never
did things that are against their Guru parampara (disciplic line of gurus).
We know that if Guru will be against you, then nothing will happen in your
life; we should have respect for this tradition, the tradition of which you
are taking shelter. Then the realizations, the feelings, the pure prema will
come in your life. That is the essence of our bhajan.

Sometimes you may actually travel to Vrindavan. Why are you going
there? To get some realization, to get some knowledge, to get the
association of sadhus. You are going to get some mercy from the
50
Brijvasis (local residents), from the dust of Vrindavan. If you do not have
the realization, how special the dust of Vrindavan is, then you will get no
benefit from going there. If you have not got a favorable attitude, then
there’s no benefit in going to Vrindavan.

In Prema Bhakti Candrika, (Prema Bhakti Candrika is an essential book

for all Gaudiya Vaisnavas - all the important principles of bhakti are
there) Narottam das Thakur mentions this very nice poem:

Thirtha jatra parisrama kebala manera bhrama, sarba siddhi gobinda

carana, Drdha biswasa hrde dhari mada matsarjya parihari, sada kara
ananya bhanjana

If you go to the pilgrimages, that is like a waste of your time and waste
of your energy. It’s like an illusion of your mind. Why? Why he said this?
When scriptures said this; if you go to the pilgrimage, to the Tirthas,
then you will get benefits. Then why did Narottam Das Thakur speak in
this way? Because he wanted to mention this point; if you have not this
favorable mind (Abimukhiman) to go there, then you should not go, that
would be waste of your time and waste of your energy.

You are going to Vrindavan, you went to Vrindavan? Why? First you
have to know why you are going to Vrindavan, why you are going to
Nabadwip, why you are going to Puri Dham? Collecting mercy. Collecting
feelings and realizations from there. From this place, from this dust. One
has to go there in serving mood, but not only in a serving mood. You need
Abhimukhi. A favorable mood. Otherwise you will not get any benefits.
Someone went to Vrindavan, and when I asked him, “Have you been to
Vrindavan?” He answered “Yes I have been there.” “Ok, please explain
some realizations you got there.” And he started to say: “Oh all these
brajavasis (the local residents of Vrindavan) you cannot imagine, how
many problems they’ll give you.”

That means he wasn’t really there, nothing was there. He got no

realizations.

Many pilgrims will maybe go Navadwip then Vrindavan, then Puri. Or

sometimes they go to Vrindavan then Puri then from Puri to Navadvip.
When they come back from this place to Navadwip, I ask them “From
where you are coming now, Vrindavan? Puri?” “Yes Prabhu, I´m coming
from Vrindavan now.” “Oh, then please explain some realization you got
out there.”

51
“Oh Prabhu,” if they come from Vrindavan; “oh Prabhu the Brajavasis you
cannot imagine, they do not leave you until that time you have no money
in your pocket!” And if they come back from Puri, then “oh Prabhu, the
pandas you cannot imagine, how intolerable!” Then I ask “why you go
there? Only to see the Brijbasis and Pandas?” “Nonono, we go there to
take darshan of Radharani, or take darshan of Jagannatha” “Then what
you have seen?”
If you want to take the fragrance, nice smell from rose, then you have to
tolerate the thorns. Everywhere you go, everywhere, all this places, also
holy places, you will get problems. If you have a lovely time, that means
you got mercy. But you will get these problems everywhere; everywhere,
some cheating, some arguing. Because if you want to get the lotus, then
you have to clear all these weeds first.
Even the monkeys they can give trouble in Vrindavan. One day I was
there in Vrindavan, and you know my Vrindavan temple, (Laksmi Kanta
Kunja), it is just on the market near Gopinath bazaar, and there are
so many monkeys. One day I was sitting outside and was reading one
grantha. Then, I had some work in my room, I just left this grantha there
and I went inside the room, for only maybe 3 or 4 minutes, when I came
back I found all the pages in separate places. Hahaha – monkeys!”
There is a verse: If Radharani will allow me to take birth as a monkey,
as anything, there in Vraja; Tad bhuri bhagyam iha janma kim apy
atavyam… [Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.34]
Lord Brahma is praying, he was praying to Krishna, “please allow me
to take birth as a stone or as a grass anywhere in Vraja.” Then Krishna
asked Brahma, “oh Brahma what will happen, if I allow you to take birth
as a grass somewhere in Vraja? Where I never go, I never go there,
what will happen with you? You will never see me!”
Brahma said, “No problem, now I have realized this truth, if I need you,
then if I will try to go to you directly, I will never reach you, I´ll never get
you. If I need you, then I have to go to your associates (your devotees).
Maybe you will not go there, but maybe one of the servants of your
servants, they will go nearby, and when they will go nearby, then I will
request those patita pavana (your devotees who are merciful to the
fallen), ‘please give me the dust of His lotus feet and sprinkle it on me.’
In this way I can get your foot dust any place. I have no need that you are
going there or not.” (As long as Your devotees go there – for example,
even this small village near Prague!)

52
 The Secret of
7
Manjari Bhava
T here are so many contradictions, conflicts, about this manjari bhava
sadhana. Some say it will manifest by your bhajan; some say, you have
to receive it from Guru; there is a big conflict. Some people even reject
this manjari bhava altogether.

How will we achieve this, attain this stage of manjari bhava? Really, is
there any possibility to achieve this? Can we, by our bhajan, can we
attain this mood? Can we attain this svarupa that Gurudeva will give
(reveal to) us? We will see what the scriptures say.

In Priti Sandarbha, Jiva Goswamipad says:

Vaikunthasya bhagavato jyotir amsa bhuta vaikuntha loka sobha rupa

ya ananta murtayas tatra vartante/ tasam ekaya saha muktasyaikasya
murtih bhagavata ktiyata iti vaikunthasya murtir iva murtir yesam ity
uktam (3.15)

What Jiva Goswami said here is how Sri Gurudeva will give us this form,
this manjari bhava. How will it happen? Is Sri Gurudeva speculating this?
Is it like imagination? Jiva Goswami dispels our confusion and doubts,
and explains everything here. He explains how we will attain this manjari
bhava. Scripture says that this manjari bhava is eternal. If we have an
eternal svarupa (spiritual form), then how is it that we are here? Why are
we here, and how will we attain this stage, this eternal svarupa? How
will Sri Gurudev give us this? Is he speculating, saying something by his
imagination, or not?

Jiva Goswami explains that there are millions of forms, of svarupas; they
are all like the rays of Sri Krishna’s effulgence, and they are all eternal
associates of Sri Krishna. When one sadhaka, one devotee, achieves his
goal, meaning when he will attain prema, then Sri Krishna will give him his
svarupa: one form amongst the millions of svarupas in Vaikuntha. Krishna
will allow us to get one svarupa there, and this svarupa the disciple will
get through Guru. Guru will see this form in his meditation and he will
recognize you.

Q: So who gives the svarupa, God or Guru?

A: Guru cannot give it; he can only tell you what Krishna is giving you.
Guru is only the medium via whom God gives the svarupa.

We are all the servants of Sriman Bhagavan. But we have not realized
this yet. And we all need this svarupa for serving them – for serving
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Sri Krishna. So, when we will get this blessing, this prema, by our own
performance, our activities – our spiritual activities, then He will give us
this particular form.

First He will send this form to Sri Gurudev, then Sri Gurudev will realize
and see this form and he will know his disciple. In that way we can
achieve our eternal form. Everything is there - we only have to reach our
target. We have our form there. Gurudev will give us this form, reveal
this form. Yes, he will reveal this to us – it is not speculation – it is not
coming by his imagination. He will just reveal this form – that is who you
are, there. That form. Gurudev will give will give some details about who
you are, your manjari form. Which of these will change? - The colour of
your dress. By his meditation Gurudev saw that time a particular dress,
that your siddha svarupa wore – like peacock tails for example. That was
that particular time – the colour of dress will change because every day
you will change your dress. Different dress. What will not change? Your
seva, your service, it will not change. It is fixed. Your body colour. It will
not change. And when you are eternal, that means your age also is fixed.
Your age, name, mood – everything is fixed. Gurudeva will give some
things, and then, after, all other details will come by our meditation, by
our performance, by our activities. Because there are so many things.
Gurudev will reveal some points – he can reveal all these details. But
if he will reveal all the details, then the person will not do anything. The
sadhaka has to do something! By his own sadhana, his bhajan, the
sadhaka can see all the other details of his svarupa.

Now, the point is, why do we need this manjari bhava? Why did Sriman
Mahaprabhu give us this manjari bhajan? Was it not there before
Mahaprabhu? Yes. Before Mahaprabhu also it was there, this mood.
Because it is eternal. Mahaprabhu just revealed all these things for
us. That is, you can say, the supreme gift for kali people. For kali yuga
people this is the supreme gift from Sriman Mahaprabhu. This is anarpita
carim cirat. (Editor’s note: this refers to a sloka by Srila Rupa Goswami
from Vidagdha-madhava, also in Chaitanya Charitamrita [Adi 1.4] which
explains that the supreme gift of Mahaprabhu is manjari bhava). You can
say, before Mahaprabhu, no one can give this. Why did he give this?
Why not the other moods? Why did Mahaprabhu never talk about the
friendly mood, and the other moods? Sometimes, someone asks, isn’t
it possible, that one would have that friendly mood, or some parental
mood? But in this madhura rati, (the mood of lovers), are contained all
the rasas. The mood will just go up, according to the rasa stage. There is

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shanta (neutral mood), dasya, (service mood) sakhya, (friendly mood),
vatsalya, (parental mood) and madhura (lovers’ mood).

We need to get this prema. Just think about this Raya Ramananda
samvad (Mahaprabhu’s conversation with Raya Ramananda, Chaitanya
Charitamrita Madhya lila chapter 8):

From the start, in this Raya Ramananda samvad:

Prabhu kahe, pada sloka sadhyera nirnaya

Raya kahe, svar-dharmacarane vishnu bhakti haya (CC Madhya 8.57)

What Raya said about varnashram-dharma, Mahaprabhu did not reject

this, but he said “Oh Raya, it is external. I want to know more” and Prabhu
said “eho bahya – go further - tell me if you know more.”

Raya said “Krishna karmarpana - Yes, offering all your activities to

Krishna.” Prabhu said “Raya, eho bahya - this is also external. Age kaha
ara - Go further.”

Raya said “svadharma-tyaga, ei sadhya-sara” (to give up all activities

in the varnashram dharma system is the essence of perfection). Again
Prabhu said “Raya, eho bahya - this is also external. Age kaha ara - Go
further.”

Raya Ramananda said gyana misra bhakti (bhakti mixed with knowledge)
and gyana sunya bhakti, (bhakti free from the covering of knowledge),
Sriman Mahaprabhu said, up to that stage, it is also external. (Meaning
it is not the purest bhakti. He didn’t reject this but he said ‘Raya, it is
external’. Eho bahya (go further).

These are all stages. The sadhaka is not allowed to just jump. They have
to follow from the starting point. Without knowledge about varnashram
dharma no one can advance. (Editor’s note: Varnashram dharma is the
basic knowledge about how to live. The social system in which one is
engaged according to one’s natural propensity, one’s nature. This is
the foundation of a properly functioning society. Without it, people are
engaged in things they are not qualified for, and spiritual advance is
not possible.) Varnashram dharma is the basis, the foundation. Without
foundations you cannot build a big building – you cannot build a thing.
Without a good foundation no one can advance. That’s why you need
all this.

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There are two stages – vaidhi bhakti and raganuga bhakti. We are
following raganuga bhakti, but to achieve these higher stages, to realize
something, to get this prema, we need to practice this vaidhi bhakti
(follow the rules) – putting tilak, kanti mala, chanting, japa mala, all the
mantras, meditating; without doing this, no-one can jump to raganuga
bhakti. We need this; without this, realization will not come.

What is our bhajan? What are we doing in this bhajan? In bhajan, we

are practicing about loving exchange – yes, we are practicing about this,
and you need to be a master at this, otherwise no-one can exchange
their love with Krishna, Svyam Bhagavan. It is the same in the material
world. If you want to learn anything here in this material world, then also
you need to practice. Without practice you cannot sing in a good way,
without practice you cannot play an instrument. You cannot be a master,
can you, without practice?

Our bhajan also needs practice. Because it’s not speculation. If you
think, there’s no need to do the vaidhi bhakti, and are just meditating
about Krishna, then this realization will not come. That’s why we need
to perform this, to practice this vaidhi bhakti. But once you get the
prema, the moods, the raganuga, then there is no need to follow vaidhi
– but then atmarama ca munayo – (self-satisfied yogis) are also doing:
Atmaramas ca munayo, nirgrantha apy urukrame, Kurvanty ahaitukim
bhatkim, ittham-bhuta-guno harih [Srimad Bhagavatam 1.7.10].

Someone who has already achieved this stage, who has become
atmarama, self-satisfied, they are also doing all this (vaidhi bhakti). They
don’t have to do it. But they do it automatically. It happens spontaneously.
apy urukrame kurvanty ahaitukim bhaktim. They are doing this not by
their practice. It is going on automatically. When sadhaka has achieved
this stage of raga marga, they will realise these moods. When they enter
into this eternal mood, that means up to prema, this gyana sunya bhakti,
Mahaprabhu said, this is external.

Then Ramananda said “prema bhakti sarva sadya sara – (prema bhakti
is the essence of all perfection).” And Mahaprabhu agreed “Yes! This
is it. Yes, now you are at the door, but you have to go inside! Prabhu
kahe, eho haya! Age kaha ara – yes, you are right, but you have to go
further, Rai, you have opened the door, but you are outside. You have
to go inside.”

Then Ramananda Raya started to discuss shanta, dasya, sakhya,

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vatsalya, madhura. Why didn’t he say it in this way: madhura, vatsalya,
dasya, sakhya? Because one after one, like all the gunas (elements),
these rasa, these moods, are also mixed. The moods grow; first there is
this neutral mood, then the serving mood, the dasya, then the friendly,
then the parental/vatsalya mood, then the madhura. At every stage the
previous ones are mixed. Some, they have this shanta mood, this neutral
mood. Then there is dasya, the serving mood. It is higher – in dasya,
shanta mood is mixed. When you will go further, you will find sakhya –
friendship mood. In sakhya rasa, these other two moods (shanta and
dasya) are also there. They are mixed into sakhya rasa. Then vatsalya:
it has its own mood, and with its own mood, it has all the three previous
moods (shanta, dasya and sakhya).

If we just think about this material world, then also you find this. A mother,
when she will take care of her child, giving bath, feeding – then that time
she needs the mood of a servant. Without this mood she cannot do this
properly. When the child will grow up, the parents, mother and father,
they will be friends with the child. In this way, vatsalya rasa includes all
these other moods.

When you will go further, there is madhura rasa. In madhura rasa all
the other moods are included. And manjari bhava sadhana is included
in madhura rasa. When you are practicing in madhura rasa, in manjari
bhava, all these moods are there. The manjaris are playing with Krishna
and Radhika, that is sakhya. They are giving advice to Them; sometimes
they will say, “O Radharani, it’s morning, the sun came – now you have
to go back to your house.” This is vatsalya mood, instructing. And when
they are serving, they’ll need a special mood, a mood like a servant.
And in madhura rati, the manjaris will joke with them. When Radha and
Govinda are performing their intimate pastimes, the manjaris will help -
not the sakhis. In the place of Their intimate meetings, only manjaris can
enter – not even the sakhis. That is why Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave
us this mood. With this mood you can taste Krishna in all the moods:
shanta, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhura. And whenever you
will offer any mood to Him, he will reply with the same mood – he will
reciprocate with the same mood - what you offer Krishna, He will offer
you back.

Then there is a question: why not the sakhis, why not become sakhi?
What is the difference between manjaris and sakhya? friendly mood?
Manjaris also they are sakhis. Why they are very special? why we need
this mood? because Sri Chaitanya Mahabrabu, he gave us this special
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mood, to get Krishna, to achieve Krishna prema, in a higher stage.

If we just go to Krishna directly, then we will not get Krishna 100%. The
100% of Krishna you cannot get. You can directly go to Krishna, play
with Krishna, but you cannot attain this real prema. If you really want
to taste Krishna prema, then you have to taste Krishna with Srimati
Radharani. When Srimati Radharani is with Krishna, then Krishna will
appear. Otherwise not. Because when Radharani is on His left, then He
is Madan Mohan. Without Radharani, then ‘Madana Mohita. If Radharani
is not there then He is known as Madana Mohita. That means you will be
bewildered by Kamadev. When Radharani is together with Krishna, then
he is also Madan Mohan. He can bewilder the mind of Kama because
Radharani is the shakti – the power of Krishna. If power is not there, then
what will we do with one man who has no power?!! Isn’t it? We always
need the powerful. We need power. We need Krishna 100%, that’s why
we need this special mood of manjari.

So what is the special thing about manjari bhava? What is their speciality,
these manjari sakhis? They are also known as sakhis. Why are they
known as manjaris, what is their special quality? The special quality of
manjaris is that all the manjaris are in favour of Radharani. They are
serving Krishna also, but only by the desire of Radharani. By the desire
of Radharani, all the manjaris, they are all under Srimati Radharani. They
will not accept Krishna alone – only with Srimati Radharani. A manjari
has love for Krishna, deep love, yes. But she loves Him when He is with
Radharani, not alone.

Krishna, you know, he has this nature lampat shiromani. (The crown
jewel of all debauchees!). He likes to go with the young girls, and He
likes to play with them. And He wants to joke with them, He wants to
play, and that’s why He says to Radharani, Oh, Kisori, your manjaris
they are very beautiful. May I play with them? And Srimati Radharani
She says, “Oh Krishna, don’t try to do this! Otherwise you will lose your
all dharma, all your ego, by them.” “No no no, why are you saying like
this?” “Yes. They will not accept you.” Krishna, He was determined that
He could play with them. “Yes, Radhe, I can – I can bewilder any mind.
You know, I am Madan Mohan, I am Krishna. I can attract anyone.”

“Ok, you can try. You can see if they will do something with you.” And
Krishna, only to show that He can do anything, He went to one manjari
and he started to joke with her. First the manjari did not give any attention
to him. What he was saying, she just ignored Him, and she kept going

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further. She was picking flowers, you know, from one tree, one plant
to another plant, and so on. And Krishna, He was following her. “Hey,
play with me, come, say something, I am saying so many things but
you are not answering. Why?” The manjari answered, “Krishna, I am
doing something.” “Ok, you can do later. Now just talk with me” “No no
no Krishna. Now is the time Radharani will go to Surya puja, and that’s
why I have to collect all these flowers. Otherwise She will be late.” “Ok,
no problem – some other one will do, just come to me, come.” But she
was not giving any attention to his word. Then Krishna He just took her
hand, saying, “Come!”

Then she showed her anger “Hey Krishna, what are you doing!” “Why,
you have no love for me?” “Yes, Krishna, I love you” “Then why you are
speaking me in this way, why are you angry?” “You know Krishna, I love
you – with Radharani. Not alone. When you are with Radharani, then I
love you – otherwise not. Go to Arjuta Surya, maybe she is waiting for
you. Go to Radharani.”

Krishna went back to Radha. Radharani. She already knew what would
happen. She said, “What’s happened, Krishna? Did she play with you?”
“Noooo!” “What did she do with you?” “Nothing! She did not give any
attention to me. She just behaved like I was not there, you know, I talked
so many things, like I talk with the girls.”

Radharani said “you see! They are all my manjaris. They love me, not
you! Do not do this anymore.”

Manjaris have this mood, this special mood. They love Krishna, they have
very deep love, very deep attachment for Krishna, but with Radharani.
Not without Radharani. They will accept Krishna with Radharani. And
they are all controlled by Srimati Radharani. Radharani will order them,
and they will follow the instruction of Srimati Radharani. How they will
serve Sri Krishna, and what Krishna will want, and when, and how.
Radharani will say this to them, and they will follow all these orders.

Manjaris can go inside the kunja, they can see everything. In padyavali
kirtan, and some slokas, if we just read Raga Vartma Chandrika, very
nicely it was explained there, the manjaris were seeing the pastimes, the
eternal pastimes. They were meeting, and manjaris were seeing this,
helping Them. Later the manjaris were explaining their realisations. One
manjari was saying to others, “Oh sakhi, just see how Srimati Radharani,
our Yuteshvari, she defeats Krishna, and sometimes Krishna defeats

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Srimati Radharani.” And they are explaining all these realisations. It is
very nicely explained in Raga Vartma Chandrika, and in Padyavali also.
But they do not have any attachment for meeting with Krishna. They
see everything, but they have this special quality of serving mood, in
Madhura rasa. They have this type of love, like lover and beloved, but
they are under Srimati Radharani.

Sometimes, Radharani she will say to one manjari, go to Krishna, play

with him. If Srimati Radharani will say this, go to Krishna, then they will
go. They will play with Krishna with this mood, because Radharani said
this, because they got this order from Srimati Radharani. By themselves
they will not go to Krishna. They have this special mood, that’s why Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabu, he wanted to give us this nice taste of Sri Krishna.
Sri Krishna Prema. So he gave us this manjari bhava sadhana.

When we will do our bhajan, our practice, then when we are able,
Gurudeva will see, Gurudeva will realise, yes he is ready, he is prepared
to continue with this, and he will give this manjari svarupa, this bhava.
He will not give – he will reveal. That is the supreme and highest taste.
This is our highest and supreme goal – our target. We have to do this,
we have to achieve all of this.

Question – can you explain this bhavocha mayi and lalasa mayi?
You explained it simply, but can you expand?

Answer – Yes. There are two kinds of moods in manjari bhava: bhavocha
mayi and lalasa mayi. In bhavocha mayi, the mood will come, the manjari
will see that Radha and Govinda, when they are meeting and performing
their pastimes, when they are engaged in their (amorous) pastimes, then
Radharani will not give the manjaris any instructions. But the manjaris
will see, according to the mood, according to the time, according to the
need – they will just know how to serve Radha Krishna Yugal (the Divine
Couple). For instance, if they see that They are sweating, they will fan
Them. Cool them with air. Or wipe this sweat with a cloth. That is this
mood. Now is the time They would like the betel leaves, or some water.
So according to the particular mood, then they will serve. Without being
told what They need.

And in lalasa mayi mood, the other kind, the manjaris will go with
eagerness and ask what to do. “Oh Srimati, I want to serve You. What
can I do?” When Radharani sees their eagerness, she will engage them
with one particular seva. “OK, do this.” In Thakura Mahasaya (Narottam

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das Thakura) Lalasa mayi (song) it is very clearly written there. How one
will engage with this seva. Thakura Mahasaya explained:

sri Rupa pascata ami rahiba bhita hana

donhe punah kahibena ama pane cana
sadaya hridaya donhe kahibena hasi
kothaya paile rupa ei naba dasi
[Prarthana, Lalasa song 19 text 1-4]

I timidly follow behind Sri Rupa manjari. When will she say to me,
‘fetch some water for the divine couple?’ When will the Divine Couple
compassionately smiling say ‘where did Rupa manjari get this young
maidservant from?’ Hearing these words, Sri Rupa manjari will say,
‘Manjulali gave this maidservant to me.’ At that time I will feel very humble
at heart, and I will diligently engage in the service of the Divine Couple.

Thakura Mahasaya, he explained his tradition. His guru rupa sakhi, his
guru manjari, is Manjulali manjari, and he explained how he got engaged
with this seva. He said that maybe I’ll go with my Guru manjari to Rupa
manjari, and Guru manjari will put me into the hand of Rupa manjari,
and she will take me to the Yugal. After seeing me, they will ask Rupa
manjari, with smiling faces, “Oh, Rupa, who is this very nice dasi – from
where you got this dasi, this servant.” Then Rupamanjari will give my
identity, she will say, “yes, Manjulali manjari, she gave me this new dasi,
and I tested her and found that she is very soft hearted, sadaya hridaya.
When I saw that she is very soft-hearted, and has a very favourable
mood, then I engaged her in Your seva.” First I saw the qualities, first I
examined her, then I saw she is very soft-hearted, and then I engaged
her in Your seva. That is the traditional way.

Narottam das Thakur, he says, how can anyone say that this (manjari
svarupa) is self-manifested? Only by guru rupa sakhi we can engage
ourselves in this seva. Always in anugatya (following). “Self-manifested”
means there is some (false) ego. “I can do it (my way). I am the doer.”
No! This bhajan line is always under guidance, following. I will follow my
Guru, she will follow her Guru, she will follow her Guru, and only ‘she’ -
there is no ‘he’!

Question - Can everyone get this manjari bhava?

Answer - Yes. When Guru will see that the disciple is prepared, then
Guru will deliver these all things to his disciple.

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