NOI – Nectar of Instruction—Part 16

Giriraj Swami: We had come to Text Eleven. In the purport, Srila Prabhupada writes:

PURPORT

It is stated that a devotee will at once develop pure love of Kṛṣṇa in the wake of the gopīs if he once takes a bath in Rādhā kuṇḍa.

COMMENT

But we took bath in Radha-kunda but we didn’t develop love for Krishna. So why not?

So as we mentioned yesterday that we should follow all of the instructions in Sri Upadeśāmṛta from the first, and then following all the other ten instructions, when we come to the eleventh to take bath in Radha-kunda, we may get that result of pure love for Krishna.

Now, let us discuss a little more about how one can render service at Radha-kunda as mentioned in Text Ten.

TEXT 10

Among the gopīs, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the most dear to Kṛṣṇa. Her kuṇḍa is as profoundly dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa as she is. Who, then, will not reside at Rādhā-kuṇḍa and, in a spiritual body surcharged with ecstatic devotional feelings, render loving service to the Divine Couple.

COMMENT

What is the meaning of spiritual body? Can we go to Radha-kunda and reside in a spiritual body?

Well, what is mentioned here comes at the stage of bhāva. Rupa Gosvami defines bhāva-bhakti śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā. What is śuddha-sattva? Goodness, not material goodness but śuddha-sattva is beyond material ignorance, material passion, and material goodness. It is spiritual. And just as the material energy has three divisions, sattva, rajas, and tamaś, the spiritual energy or śuddha-sattva also has three divisions corresponding to eternity, knowledge, and bliss—sat, chit, ānanda—eternity, knowledge, and bliss. So the spiritual energy has one division that corresponds to sat. Sat means eternity or existence and that division is called sandhinī. Then chit means knowledge or cognizance and that division is called saṁvit. And ānanda means bliss and that division is called hlādinī.

Well, anyway sandhinī must be there, just to exist even for us to exist as spirit souls, sandhinī must be there. But especially saṁvit and hlādinī. . . Saṁvit means, on one level it means knowledge of Krishna, another level it means direct realization of Krishna. And hlādinī means pleasure—by hlādinī-śakti experiences pleasure to Krishna, and the devotee also experiences pleasure when he gives pleasure to Krishna but through the medium of hlādinī shakti, and the combination of saṁvit and hlādinī is bhakti, it is bhakti. But Rupa Gosvami says śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā. Viśeṣ means special, like the essence of śuddha-sattva—that means the essence of hlādinī-śakti and saṁvit-śakti that makes bhāva-bhakti, that makes bhāva-bhakti and by saṁvit one gains direct realization of Krishna, direct perception of Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada has given the example or he has made the statement that self-realization, full self-realization implies God-realization, just like seeing yourself in the mirror implies seeing the sun because without sunlight you cannot see yourself in the mirror. So to actually see oneself in one’s spiritual identity also means to see God because our spiritual identity involves service to Krishna. So self-realization implies God-realization, and self-realization and God-realization come in bhāva-bhakti.

śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā—ātmā—what does ātmā mean? The self; it means the mind. It means the body. In the stage of bhāva-bhakti, śuddha-sattva becomes one with one’s very being, with one’s mind and one’s body, and therefore we can say that one’s body has become spiritualized, one’s mind has become spiritualized because in bhāva-bhakti, śuddha-sattva completely fills the mind and body. Srila Prabhupada used to give the example of the iron in fire. If you put an iron rod in fire, the fire will enter the iron rod and the iron rod will no longer act like iron but it will act like fire, become red hot and anything that comes in contact with the iron rod will burn. So just as the fire enters the iron rod and the iron rod no longer acts like iron but it acts like fire, similarly śuddha-sattva enters the body at the stage of bhāva-bhakti, body no longer acts materially but it acts spiritually, that means it no longer engages in any activity of sense gratification. It engages only in activities of service to Krishna and the purified senses or the spiritualized senses become fit to render service to the spiritual senses of Krishna. Then we can say that the body has become spiritualized and the mind has become spiritualized. Body and mind have no other function then, except serving Krishna. So I will read some verses about Lord Chaitanya and Santana Gosvami so we can understand how the body becomes spiritualized.

Sanatana Gosvami came to meet Lord Chaitanya in Jagannatha Puri. He passed through the Jharkhand forest and he got some disease that produced itching sores which oozed some liquid, and Sanatana Gosvami was very despondent because Lord Chaitanya would always want to embrace him and the foul smelling liquid that oozed from the pores on the body of Sanatana Gosvami would touch the body of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sanatana Gosvami felt very bad to the point that he wanted to give up his body under the chariot of Jagannatha. Lord Chaitanya insisted on embracing him, and Lord Chaitanya told Sanatana Gosvami that you are considering your body to be material, but I consider your body to be spiritual.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda
jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda        [3 times]

Incidentally, today is Sri Rama Ekādaśī, the day Srila Prabhupada completed the translation of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Haribol! Reading from Antya-līlā, Chapter Four:

TEXT 172

tomāra deha tumi kara bībhatsa-jñāna

tomāra deha āmāre lāge amṛta-samāna

TRANSLATION

“You consider your body dangerous and awful, but I think that your body is like nectar.”

TEXT 173

aprākṛta-deha tomāra ‘prākṛta’ kabhu naya

tathāpi tomāra tāte prākṛta-buddhi haya antya

TRANSLATION

“Actually your body is transcendental, never material. You are thinking of it, however, in terms of a material conception.”  

COMMENT

Is it a fault in that he thought that his body is material? It’s his humility. A pure devotee never thinks that his body is pure, he doesn’t think that he is pure and he doesn’t think that his body is pure.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura gives his opinion about how a person completely engaged in the service of the Lord transforms his body from material to transcendental. He says, “A pure devotee engaged in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa has no desire for his personal sense gratification, and thus he never accepts anything for that purpose. He desires only the happiness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and because of his ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. (Ecstatic love is Srila Prabhupada’s rendering of bhāva-bhakti in English) and because of his ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, he acts in various ways. A devotee always engages wholeheartedly in the service of the Lord, forgetting about bodily conceptions and bodily activities. A devotee on the topmost platform of devotional service, always humbly thinks that he is not rendering any devotional service.

So actually Sanatana Gosvami was in the mood of a pure devotee when he thought that his body was material and awful. On the other hand, oh sorry. . .

PURPORT (continued)

He thinks that he is poor in devotional service and that his body is material. On the other hand, those known as sahajiyās foolishly think that their material bodies are transcendental because of this, they’re always bereft of the association of pure devotees and they cannot behave like vaiṣṇavas.

COMMENT

We discuss the sahajiyās, they cannot distinguish between the material and the spiritual. That by dressing the material body as Krishna or as a gopī, one is liberated or able to enter the pastimes of Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has written (Antya-līlā 20.28):

premera svabhāva — yāhāṅ premera sambandha
sei māne, — ‘kṛṣṇe mora nāhi prema-gandha’

“‘Wherever there is a relationship of love of Godhead, the natural symptoms are that the devotee does not think himself a devotee, but always thinks that he has not even a drop of love for Kṛṣṇa.’”

COMMENT

Then there were some more past times, still the same problem continued that Sanatana Gosvami thought that his body was awful and he didn’t want to touch Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would embrace him by force. Lord Chaitanya continues in the same way:

TEXT 191

prabhu kahe, — “vaiṣṇava-deha ‘prākṛta’ kabhu naya
‘aprākṛta’ deha bhaktera ‘cid-ānanda-maya’ CC antya

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “The body of a devotee is never material. It is considered to be transcendental, full of spiritual bliss.”

COMMENT

Then he says what we read in the purport to Text Five:

TEXT 192

dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa
sei-kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama

 “At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa accepts him to be as good as Himself.”

COMMENT

So Krishna is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, so to be accepted on the same level as Krishna means to come to the transcendental platform of sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. So does it mean that when we sit in the fire [sacrifice], and get our beads from the guru that we come to the same level as Krishna? No, so what is the actual definition of dīkṣā? We discussed this and Srila Prabhupada mentions it. Srila Prabhupada quoted the definition of dīkṣā from Jiva Gosvami from Bhakti-sandarbha in the purport to Text Five. So what is the definition?

Dīkṣā is a process by which the devotee gradually loses interest in sense gratification and gradually becomes more and more interested in spiritual life. So dīkṣā is not a single event, dīkṣā is a continual process by which the devotee becomes more and more interested in spiritual life, becoming more and more interested in spiritual life, means he becomes more and more anxious to know who he is. What is his relationship with Krishna? What is his actual identity? What are Krishna’s pastimes with His beloved devotees?

So when one becomes more and more interested to know about Krishna and Krishna’s pastimes with His devotees and one’s own identity and one’s own service to Krishna, is the process of dīkṣā and when one becomes more and more interested in Krishna and Krishna’s service, he loses interest in material activities or sense gratification and when he comes to the stage of bhāva-bhakti means that his interest in Krishna consciousness has become quite strong and his interest and sense gratification has become practically nulled and when bhāva-bhakti becomes condensed it becomes prema-bhakti and when one achieves prema-bhakti one can enter the pastimes of Krishna, means go to the planet of Krishna and enter the pastimes of Krishna. And when one comes to one’s full capacity, loving Krishna and serving Krishna, or when one spiritual master introduces one to Krishna, then one could say that one’s dīkṣā is complete.

So we have just begun the process of dīkṣā, haven’t completed the process of dīkṣā but the attainment of bhāva-bhakti is considered to be a very significant step in dīkṣā, in surrender to Krishna. We do surrender, we surrender to the guru but the surrender is disturbed by so many obstacles, anarthas, aparādhas, and so on. When one comes to bhāva-bhakti, one’s surrender is not disturbed by anarthas and aparādhas, and Krishna accepts the devotee on the same level as Krishna and the devotee becomes eligible to serve Krishna with his transcendental senses and serve Krishna’s senses.

So when one comes to the stage of bhāva-bhakti and can realize the pastimes of Radha and Krishna at Radha-kunda and meditate on the pastimes of Radha and Krishna at Radha-kunda, then one is ready to live at Radha-kunda and render devotional service at Radha-kunda. There are many bābājīs at Radha-kunda but according to Bhaktivinoda Thakura, no one should take bābājī initiation unless he comes to the stage of bhāva-bhakti.

Bābājī is really a transcendental position, in principle. Just chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare and remembering the pastimes of Krishna and aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā and that is bhajana-vijñam—Text Five—we read about the advanced devotee in the beginning. This is bhajana-vijñam. That he is completely liberated from material contamination, and he is able to chant the holy name and remember the transcendental pastimes of Krishna throughout the whole day and night, this is advanced devotional service.

Srila Prabhupada was acting as the world acharya. Of course in the last days, Srila Prabhupada did retire to Vrindavan and mostly absorbed himself in hearing the holy names day and night and remembering Krishna. So some devotees. . . Because there is a stage at the end of life where a devotee comes to Vrindavan in seclusion and does bhajana which is called nirjana-bhajana. So some devotees perceived that in his own way, Srila Prabhupada was doing nirjana-bhajana prior to Vrindavan and day and night, he was just hearing the holy names of Krishna. So Srila Prabhupada confirmed that yes, he was doing the same thing, but as the acharya, he also set the example of being in the mood to preach until the end. But when the devotees asked him, he confirmed, and he said that at the end of life the devotee may retire from other activities and come to Vrindavan and do nirjana-bhajana and just concentrate on chanting the holy names and remembering the pastimes of Krishna.

At the beginning of bhāva-bhakti, there are different types of ecstasies—vibhāva, anubhāva, sāttvika, and vyabhicārī bhava which are described in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Then there is sthāyī-bhāva means permanent ecstasy in the sense that one feels ecstasy continuously in the mood that I’m Krishna’s friend; I am Krishna’s mother; I’m Krishna’s father; I’m Krishna’s beloved. So another synonym for bhāva is rati. So in sthāyī-bhāva there is dāsya-rati, vātsalya-rati, and mādhurya-rati. And as one advances in bhāva-bhakti, the different ecstasies become stronger, but in order for rasa to be formed, all five ecstasies have to be present and the sthāyī-bhāva has to subdue or control the other bhāvas. So when the sthāyī- bhāva becomes powerful like an emperor and subdues the other four bhāvas—vibhāva, anubhāva, sāttvika, and vyabhicārī bhāva, then rasa is formed. And when rasa becomes little condensed that means bhāva-bhakti has become actually condensed. It becomes prema-bhakti. Rasa becomes fully manifest in prema-bhakti. And in bhāva-bhakti one can attain svarūpa-siddhi. Svarūpa-siddhi means that one is in the physical body which is spiritualized by śuddha-sattva, but otherwise he is within the same body.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: But when he comes to prema-bhakti, he cannot live in the same body and by the arrangement of the Lord, he will go to the planet of Krishna’s pastimes. He won’t stay in the same planet.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Seems so. Yes, So dīkṣā-kāle. At the time of initiation, bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa, he fully surrenders to Krishna. Of course, everything continues. Surrender begins but it continues, in bhāva-bhakti it becomes more complete and prema-bhakti becomes more complete and when it comes to mahā-bhāva, then surrender is most complete. sei-kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama—Krishna accepts him to be as good as Himself.

TEXT 193

sei deha kare tāra cid-ānanda-maya

aprākṛta-dehe tāṅra caraṇa bhajaya

TRANSLATION

 “When the devotee’s body is thus transformed into spiritual existence, the devotee, in that transcendental body, renders service to the lotus feet of the Lord.”

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada gives the example that to enter fire, one must become fire. So to serve the Supreme Brahman, one must come to the Brahman platform. One must be situated on the platform of Brahman, sac-cid-ānanda, or śuddha-sattva.

Then Lord Chaitanya quotes a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

TEXT 194

martyo yadā tyakta-samasta-karmā
niveditātmā vicikīrṣito me
tadāmṛtatvaṁ pratipadyamāno
mayātma-bhūyāya ca kalpate vai        [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.29.34]

TRANSLATION

“ ‘The living entity who is subjected to birth and death when he gives up all material activities, dedicates his life to the execution of My order, and thus acts according to My directions, at that time he reaches the platform of immortality. . .

COMMENT

That means he develops his spiritual body, and then there is no more change of body.

TRANSLATION (continued)

. . . At that time he reaches the platform of immortality and becomes fit to enjoy the spiritual bliss of exchange of loving mellows with Me.’”

COMMENT

And the purport repeats the same ideas and Srila Prabhupada comments:

PURPORT

When a devotee no longer has any desire for material sense gratification, in his spiritual identity he engages in the service of the Lord, for his dormant spiritual consciousness awakens. This awakening of spiritual consciousness makes his body spiritual and thus he becomes fit to render service to the Lord.

COMMENT

So here, well, Srila Prabhupada says [that] karmis may consider the body of the devotee material but factually it is not, for a devotee has no conception of material enjoyment. So here, we think of Text Six. What does Text Six say?

“One should not see the body of a pure devotee from the material point of view.” One should know that it is always spiritual and one should not consider a devotee’s body having been born in a low family, having a diseased body or a deformed body or whatnot, and Lord Chaitanya set the example with Sanatana Gosvami although Sanatana Gosvami’s body appeared to be diseased very badly, but Lord Chaitanya did not consider his body to be diseased or material. He considered his body to be spiritual like nectar.

So now we come to the end. Text Eleven:

PURPORT

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes that Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa is the most select place for those interested in advancing their devotional service in the wake of the lady friends (sakhīs) and confidential serving maids (mañjarīs) of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

COMMENT

So in Text Eight, Rupa Gosvami said tiṣṭhan vraje, what is tiṣṭhan vraje? One should reside in Vraja and follow in the footsteps of the Lord’s beloved devotees.

So if one wants to serve the Lord following the cowherd boys, he may live in Govardhana, he may live in Ramana-reti, or he may live in Vrindavan. And if one wants to serve the Lord in the mood of Nanda and Yasoda, then he may live in Gokul or Nandagram, but here Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “If one wants to follow, means if one wants to serve the Lord, as one of the lady friends of Srimati Radharani or one of the main servants of Srimati Radharani, then Radha-kunda is the best place because at Radha-kunda only Srimati Radharani and Her girlfriends are allowed. No one else is allowed in Radha-kunda to serve Krishna.” But we should be qualified, of course we should be qualified.

PURPORT (continued)

Living entities who are eager to return home to the transcendental kingdom of God, Goloka Vṛndāvana, by means of attaining their spiritual bodies (siddha-deha) should live at Rādhā-kuṇḍa, take shelter of the confidential serving maids of Śrī Rādhā and under their direction engage constantly in Her service.

COMMENT

So Rupa Gosvami, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami in their eternal spiritual forms in kṛṣṇa-līlā, they are maidservants of Sri Radha. So when we go to Radha-kunda we should take shelter of them, Rupa Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, or Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, our spiritual master as maidservants of Srimati Radharani.

PURPORT (continued)

This is the most exalted method for those engaged in devotional service under the protection of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In this connection Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura writes that even great sages and great devotees like Nārada and Sanaka do not get an opportunity to come to Rādhā-kuṇḍa to take their baths.

COMMENT

What does it mean? Does it mean that we can go to Radha-kunda and they can’t, so we are better than Narada?

It means that to develop a spiritual body as a gopī and take bath in Radha-kunda is difficult even for them. So what to speak of ordinary devotees, but we are not better than Narada in the sense, that we also haven’t developed our spiritual bodies as gopīs, we also can’t take bath at Radha-kunda in the full sense.

PURPORT (continued)

What, then, to speak of ordinary devotees? If, by great fortune, one gets an opportunity to come to Rādhā-kuṇḍa and bathe even once, he can develop his transcendental love for Kṛṣṇa, exactly as the gopīs did.

In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, there are many statements that if one just takes caraṇāmṛta if one just circumambulates the temple, if one just does this, if one does just does that, he will get some extraordinary results.

So Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Prabhupada explain that the results mentioned in relation to the various items of devotional service are not exaggerations, but they are not true for all persons in all cases, but especially if one is already advanced in devotional service, then if he performs any one of the items, he may get the result mentioned.

So we can apply the same principle here that it is not true in every case for every person that if he takes bath in Radha-kunda once, he’ll develop love for Krishna like the gopīs, but if someone is already advanced in devotional service, and then he takes bath in Radha-kunda then the bath can bring him to the stage of love for Krishna like the gopīs—that is also true, that is also true.

We could say that if one takes bath once at Radha-kunda, he will develop love for Krishna like the gopīs if he has greed and if he follows the process. It may take some time, one life, two lives, ten lives, hundred lives but eventually he will reach the goal. So the statement is true. That is a good answer.

PURPORT (continued)

It is also recommended that one should live on the banks of Rādhā-kuṇḍa and should be absorbed in the loving service of the Lord. One should bathe there regularly and give up all material conceptions, taking shelter of Śrī Rādhā and Her assistant gopīs.

If one is thus constantly engaged during his lifetime, after giving up the body he will return back to Godhead to serve Śrī Rādhā in the same way as he contemplated during his life on the banks of Rādhā-kuṇḍa. 

COMMENT

So also in relation to Text Eight, Srila Prabhupada quoted the verse yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ that whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail. Because in the verse Rupa Gosvami said that one should chant the holy names of Krishna and remember the transcendental pastimes of Krishna and thus engage his tongue and his mind. So the whole goal is to remember Krishna at the time of death, and in the purport also, Srila Prabhupada explains that we should remember Krishna with His associates in their service to Krishna, Krishna’s pastimes. If we think of Krishna and His associates in their pastimes throughout our life then at the time of death, we will get the appropriate body to serve Krishna in the way that we desired and remembered during our life, otherwise to think of Krishna at the time of death is vague. Just think of Krishna at the time of death is vague, but if we think of Krishna with associates in pastimes, and with those associates whose mood and service we want, then we may think of Krishna at the time of death and attain the goal.

PURPORT (continued)

The conclusion is that to live on the banks of the Rādhā-kuṇḍa and to bathe there daily constitute the highest perfection of devotional service.

COMMENT

You know what it means to live on the banks of Radha-kunda? There are also monkeys and turtles at Radha-kunda. What to speak of taking bath, the turtles practically live in Radha-kunda. So when Srila Prabhupada says. . .

Yes, we should appreciate the good fortune of the turtles in Radha-kunda. Certainly, the turtles in Radha-kunda are very fortunate but we cannot imitate the turtles. We should follow in the footsteps of Rupa and Raghunatha. This is the idea.

PURPORT (continued)

Thus there is no limit to the glory of Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa.

COMMENT

. . . because Radha-kunda is not different from Srimati Radharani. We read in Text Nine that Radha-kunda is overflowing with prema because Srimati Radharani is overflowing with prema, and one can give what one possesses. So Srimati Radharani has the highest prema so She can give prema and because Radha-kunda is not different from Srimati Radharani, Radha-kunda can also give prema.

PURPORT (continued)

There is no limit to the glory of Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa. By serving Rādhā-kuṇḍa, one can get an opportunity to become an assistant of Srimati Radharani under the eternal guidance of the gopīs.

COMMENT

Narada Muni has a spiritual body to take bath in Radha-kunda. Or in other words to join the pastimes of Krishna at Radha-kunda, one has to be in the line of the gopīs, there is no other rasa at Radha-kunda except mādhurya-rasa. So even Nanda and Yasoda do not come to Radha-kunda.

It begins in bhāva but when bhāva becomes more condensed, it becomes prema. So you could also say when rasa becomes more condensed, it becomes prema, and then sneha, māna, praṇaya, rāga, anurāga, and so on. But it starts in bhāva-bhakti, but it becomes more condensed or more fully realized in prema-bhakti. But we discussed the other day that even if we cannot chant the pure name but even by chanting in nāma-ābhāsa, we get so much benefit and by chanting in nāma-ābhāsa and trying to avoid offenses and actually avoiding offenses, we can gradually chant the pure name.

So we may not actually take bath in Radha-kunda, we may be in ābhāsa of bath in Radha-kunda but even an ābhāsa of bath in Radha-kunda can help us. Just like ābhāsa of pure chanting can help us. We are not qualified. There is no question that we are qualified, but Rupa Gosvami has instructed us, various acharyas have instructed us, Srila Prabhupada has instructed us, so in obedience to their order, we do it. We have faith that by their mercy gradually some benefit will come.

Well if one comes to Vrindavan as Srila Prabhupada writes. . . When one makes Vrindavan his residence, he should take shelter of an advanced devotee there so certainly taking shelter of an advanced devotee means spiritual master either śikṣā-guru or dīkṣā-guru. If you can take shelter of an advanced devotee who has a direct relationship with Krishna, as a follower of the gopīs, you are the most fortunate. They’re all spiritual masters, they’re all spiritual masters.

Here’s the point, that is the point. We should have some direct link because we cannot come in contact with Srimati Radharani and Krishna directly or even Lalita, Vishaka, Rupa Manjari, Rati Manjari, we cannot come in contact with them directly. So we have to come in direct contact with someone who is in contact with them. By his mercy, we also come in contact with them. In the conditioned stage, we cannot come in contact with them directly. We are not.

What is your actual question?

The inspiration to pray to them, from where does the inspiration come? Association of some devotee and therefore you got the inspiration to pray to them, the inspiration come from the association of some devotee. Anyway if you pray to them and they reciprocate, no problem, no problem. The more we pray sincerely, the more they will respond. And when we are in misery we can pray more sincerely because we realize we are not the controller, we are not the enjoyer, we are not the proprietor, and we give up so many false conceptions because actually we have no control over the situation. We have no control. So the only thing to do is pray to them sincerely.

Certainly, if one is like Queen Kunti who says that Krishna is the property of the akiñcana or niṣkiñcana. So in some crisis, if we give up our sense of possessing and controlling and enjoying and we feel we have nothing except them, then we can really pray and they will surely respond.

Yes, like Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says nikuñja-yūno rati-keli-siddhyai—he saw his spiritual master as eternal associate of Krishna. We cannot judge by seeing the person’s body if it is spiritual or material, but if the person is fully engaged in the service of the Lord without any false identification with matter and without any activities of sense gratification, then we can say that he has a spiritual body. Like fire and iron, śuddha-sattva has come and filled the body, filled the mind, filled the person to such an extent that we cannot distinguish between śuddha-sattva and the physical body or mind. It’s like when the fire goes in, the iron becomes red hot, you cannot find any place where the fire is not. The whole iron rod is red hot, you understand? So when by sādhana-bhakti and the mercy of Krishna and the associates of Krishna, śuddha-sattva comes, bhāva-bhakti comes, then śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā, practically we cannot distinguish, but in the case of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He was eternally liberated, He was never conditioned. He never had to do sadhana. So His body is spiritual, in another way. His body is eternally spiritual.

Yes, like when the iron becomes red hot, if you touch the iron, you get burned. So someone’s body is spiritualized, if you touch the body you get bhakti, you come in contact with bhakti, not only touching the body directly, but the water that washed the feet, the remnants of the food - bhakta-pada-dhūli āra bhakta-pada-jala (Antya 16.60) that the water that has washed the feet of the devotee, the dust of the lotus feet of the devotee, and the remnants of the devotee’s food stuffs are three very powerful substances.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, it is like the fisherman who caught Lord Chaitanya in his net. So the fisherman touched Lord Chaitanya and the fisherman became mad with love of Krishna. Yes, a very good example.

The scripture says that one who leaves his body in Vrindavan, what? 

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: But I would apply the same principle from The Nectar of Devotion that the wonderful results of giving up one’s body in Vrindavan, the wonderful results of any devotional activity are not exaggerations, but they are not true in all cases for all devotees. But for devotees who are already advanced in Krishna consciousness, such results are not uncommon. Because we read that if one chants the holy name with offenses, he won’t get the fruit of chanting, which is love of Krishna for so many births. Does anyone know the verse? Bahu janma kare—they used to recite it in the morning. Here, so what is the translation? That if one chants the holy name with offenses, he will not get the fruit of the chanting, which is love of Godhead even if he chants for so many lifetimes. Anyway we shouldn’t worry about liberation and all these things, we should just worry about progressing in devotional service.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: I don’t think that if someone lives in Vrindavan, commits offenses, thinks of God knows what at the time of death that he’ll automatically go back to Godhead just because he was in Vrindavan, and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that the dhāma is covered by a thin veneer of maya, and that people who are offensive do not actually live in the dhāma but they live on the outer surface, which is maya.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Anyway whatever progress you make will carry over into the next life. So even if you are not completely successful, you can continue in the next life. So the best thing is to really think of how to engage in devotional service and please Krishna, not be worried about our own liberation. Even in sādhana-bhakti, our intention should be to please Krishna by our practices, and by thinking that Krishna is pleased we should feel pleased. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ.

Srila Jiva Gosvami has given a good example which we can end with. He says that even an ordinary person can have the sense of feeling happiness and the happiness of one’s loved ones. It is even an ordinary materially attached foolish person, he can feel he can accept difficulties for the sake of his son, for the sake of his child and feel happy knowing that his child is happy. For example, the man lives in Vrindavan but he goes to Calcutta to earn money and he earns hundred rupees a month, and he sends eighty rupees to his wife to use for his son. And he just lives under the trees, on the footpath, he just eats very ordinary food once a day. There is no facility at all but if someone asks him, “Why are you accepting so much suffering?” He will say, “I’m not suffering, I’m happy,” because the letter will come from his wife that your son is growing up, and I’m spending the money and buying milk for him, and he is having all the good things to eat, and he is growing up, and he is getting new clothes. So when he hears how his son is eating nicely and growing nicely, he feels happy.

So in sādhana-bhakti also we accept so many difficulties, we have to rise early in the morning, we have to do things we don’t want to do. We cannot do things that we want to do. So we suffer in one sense, we suffer but if we think that by our efforts Krishna is pleased or guru is pleased, not directly Krishna but guru first, if we think that guru is pleased then we feel happy even in sādhana-bhakti, even doing so many austerities and taking exams and so many things. So this is favorableness, this is favorableness that we just want that Krishna should be happy. If Krishna is happy, then I am more happy, but if Krishna is not happy, then I’m not happy. So this is the mood of bhakti and this mood should be there from the very beginning in sādhana-bhakti also.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Well, the main factor is association. By associating with people who are in the mood of pleasing the spiritual master, we can get the same mood and they will remind us also, and then all the other items, chanting the holy names, hearing the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, living in Vrindavan, worshiping the deity will be done in the right mood. So actually, by association the value of all the other practices is enhanced. 

All right, wish you the best. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Sri Sri Radha-Damodar ki jaya!