Spiritual Association

Giriraj Swami: Very glad to be back in Mauritius, especially as a preacher, not a manager. We were just in Vrindavan during the most sacred month of Kartik. Of course, many of you know about Kartik. Kartik is the month of Srimati Radharani, who is also known as Kartik devi. Kartik month is also known as Damodara month, and Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu explains that just as Damodara considers the smallest affair in the life of His devotee to be very important, similarly, in the month of Damodara, the smallest service rendered by the devotee is taken as very significant. Or in other words, the value of one’s devotional practices is enhanced during the month of Damodara. And Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu further explains that the benefit of observing Kartik vrata is still greater if Kartik is observed in Vrindavan.

So, some of our godbrothers performed very severe austerity during the month of Kartik. Some of them performed severe austerities during the entire period of cāturmāsya, but it is also a principle that a devotee does not disclose what his special vows are for the period of cāturmāsya, or the month of Kartik, so that he should not feel proud of his austerities or his practices. But we can imagine that some of them were chanting nāma vrata, two lakhs every day, a hundred and twenty-eight rounds. One of them, His Holiness Nitai Chandra Goswami Maharaja, was doing Govardhana parikramā every day.

Then, on the last day of Kartik, actually, Nitai Chandra Maharaja has an ashram which he constructed at Radha-kunda, so he was there, and one other very advanced devotee, His Holiness Sacinandana Swami Maharaja from Germany, he was there for the month of Kartik. And just almost the next building or maybe two buildings away is a Gopal temple, which belonged to the royal family of Manipur, and the royal family has handed over the management of the temple, or the care of the temple, to His Holiness Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja. So, one another godbrother, His Holiness Mahanidhi Swami Maharaja, observed very strict cāturmāsya and Kartik vrata from the Gopal temple.

Then on the last day, Kartik Purnima, there is a feast, and the devotees who have been observing strictly or to whatever degree they have been observing, they have a feast, and they are able to take all of the food, all types of food that they were avoiding during their vrata. And those who are following strictly apart from other restrictions, they were not taking, they did not take any salt or sugar for the entire period.

But this year, so many devotees came to Vrindavan. There were three hundred devotees on Vraja mandala parikramā, which was much more than ever in the temple. There were a hundred devotees in VIHE, which is also more than what they have had in a long time. And then His Holiness Radhanath Swami came from Bombay for a ten- or twelve-day yatra, and he had eight hundred devotees in his party, fifteen buses. So, there were so many devotees. And the day before Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day was Mathura Ratha-yatra, and there were 2.500 devotees, and at Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance festival, there were something like 2.500 or 3.000 devotees.

His Grace Dinabandhu Prabhu, who had visited here, gave a very short talk at Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance festival, because there were so many devotees, so each devotee only had a few minutes to speak. And he described how on parikramā, they were visiting so many places, and taking bath in holy rivers and kuṇḍas, but that on the auspicious occasion of Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance festival, the whole of Krishna-Balarama mandir, courtyard of the Krishna-Balarama mandir. . . There was very heavy rain in Vraja, and most of kuṇḍas were overflowing. I don’t know which [Unintelligible 00:08:27] combination of Radha and Krishna.

And for Bahulastami, the appearance day of Radha-kunda, somehow, they pumped the water out, because everything was submerged, there was no place for people to chant, and then gradually, the water level rose again, and covered all the steps. And the Yamuna was also flooded, so Dinabandhu Prabhu was saying how on Vraja mandala parikramā, they saw how all the rivers and ponds were overflowing in Vrindavan, but today, the Krishna-Balarama mandir is overflowing with devotees. And we are getting purified by taking our bath in the association of the devotees.

And Shyamsundara Prabhu, who has visited here from [Unintelligible 00:09:50], Srila Prabhupada’s one of the first disciples and secretary, he was the master of ceremony. And of course, in the evening, devotees crowded at Srila Prabhupada’s house, and even otherwise, they were [Unintelligible 00:10:14]. Radhanath Swami had eight hundred devotees, so he invited Shyamsundara Prabhu, Hari Sauri Prabhu, and myself, to address his devotees at Fogla ashram. There is a very big pavilion where we were able to speak.

So then, on the last day of Kartik Purnima, all the devotees broke their fast, and Nitai Chandra Maharaja invited many devotees. It was a very well prepared prasāda, and even though he had been fasting, and the last five days are also very special and the strict observance of Kartik vrata, the devotees take only panchajanya in the last five days. One item each day; milk, yogurt, ghee, cow urine, cow dung. But even then, he was doing Govardhana parikramā every day. Nitai Chandra Maharaja was the perfect host, and he personally supervised the serving of prasāda and saw that all the Vaishnavas were satisfied, and only after all the Vaishnavas were satisfied did he take prasāda.

And then afterwards, I had a talk with Mahanidhi Swami, and he brought up one point about Srimati Radharani, that Srimati Radharani is considered the personification of prema, or bhakti. And some of you may know from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, as quoted in many places in Srila Prabhupada’s books and paraphrased in many places, that the beginning of development of bhakti is sraddha, or faith, ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo, that first, one develops some faith and attraction for the subject of Krishna consciousness, and then he begins to associate with devotees in the regular way.

And we see the same process everywhere in the world where we preach. We see the same process that some person develops some initial faith and attraction, and then they start to associate with the devotees. Maybe once a week, they will come on Sunday, they might increase, come twice a week, or they may start to come every day. So, ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo ‘tha bhajana-kriyā, and after associating with the devotees regularly for some time, they may become inspired, “Yes, I want to practice Krishna consciousness like the other devotees, I also want to surrender and follow the regulative principles, and chant sixteen rounds, and take initiation, and follow the regulated process of Krishna consciousness.”

So, that is called bhajana-kriyā, then so many other stages; anartha-nivṛtti, eradication of unwanted desires, thoughts, habits. Then niṣṭhā, after anartha-nivṛtti, one becomes steady and fixed in one’s spiritual practices, then ruci, one develops taste. He develops more taste for Krishna consciousness than anything else. In the beginning, we chant and hear as a regulative principle, but if there is some juicy piece of gossip, we are very ready to set aside our chanting and hearing about Krishna and become very eager to hear about the gossip or the scandal, politics. But when one comes to the stage of ruci, he is more attracted to topics of Krishna than anything else. And even if there is opportunity to indulge in other topics, he chooses not to, because he derives more pleasure from topics of Krishna.

Then more advanced, āsakti, one becomes very attached to the practices of Krishna consciousness, and then to Krishna Himself. And then bhāva, ecstatic love of Godhead, and prema, pure love of Godhead. So, bhakti is bhakti, and the same bhakti, as it matures, is called differently; sraddha, niṣṭhā, ruci, āsakti, bhāva, prema, and so on. So, the personification of bhakti, personification of prema is Srimati Radharani, and the first ray of bhakti that enters the heart of the living entity is sraddha, or faith. So, sraddha is actually the halo of Srimati Radharani, because that’s the first ray of bhakti that enters the heart.

So, Mahanidhi Swami was saying that to try to disturb someone’s faith or minimize someone’s faith is an offense against Srimati Radharani, because the faith that someone has is the halo or the effulgence of Srimati Radharani. And therefore, it is called aparādha, against Radha. So, to disturb someone’s faith is to go against Radha, and therefore, the word is called aparādha.

So, a very nice association. I think many of the senior devotees were feeling more than ever the need and the value of spiritual association. And again, our law book or guide book is The Nectar of Devotion, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu mentions five most potent forms of devotional service, and one is sādhu-saṅga, the association of devotees. And in the verse composed by Rupa Gosvami in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, he mentions that one should associate with devotees of like mind, with devotees who are more advanced than oneself, and with devotees who are affectionate towards oneself. Such association will be very conducive to the development of Krishna consciousness.

Of course, here, the first consideration is whether the devotee is a follower of Srila Prabhupada, because even if someone is an advanced devotee but is not a follower of Srila Prabhupada, and he does not encourage us in our faith in Srila Prabhupada, in our service to Srila Prabhupada, it won’t be so favorable. So, the devotee should be like-minded, and he should be more advanced. Now, sometimes peers meet and associate, but as devotees, each one feels that the other is more advanced than himself, and because he feels that the other is more advanced than himself, he wants to get something from the more advanced devotee; some knowledge, some instruction, some mercy. And the person should be affectionate because Krishna consciousness blossoms and flourishes where there are affectionate relationships. So, when we associate with such devotees; like-minded, more advanced than we are, and affectionate to us, our spiritual development is enhanced.

So, one of our projects is called The Bhaktivedanta Ashram at Govardhana Hill. And say the manager of the project is His Grace Kesava Bharati Prabhu. So, he has been having his own realizations of the future importance of the project in ISKCON, and it will be a very nice place, were especially senior devotees, renouncers, will come and really seriously practice Krishna consciousness in the association of other such devotees and get great inspiration for leading the Krishna consciousness movement and preaching.

So, right now, the ashram, which used to be the palace of a king, is under renovation. The work is proceeding quite nicely. Maybe by next Kartik, it will be ready enough for Kartik vrata there. And of course, visiting the holy places really means associating with the saintly persons and hearing the pastimes of the Lord. Of course, Vrindavan is full of holy places associated with the Lord’s pastimes, and if one knew, there is probably a pastime associated with every particle of dust or sand. But still, some places are more famous.

I know that there is one place in Barsana called Krishna kuṇḍa. When we begin the parikramā, it is near [Unintelligible 00:24:15], which is the place of Chitra devi, after you go through the narrow passage. And although the local people call it Radha Sarovar, there is actually a sign there. The pastime is that the lady of the house, the elderly gopī, had gone out of the house and left the house empty.

So, Krishna and Balarama and Their cowherd boys took the opportunity to enter and steal butter and yogurt and have a good time. So, one other gopī happened to notice that they went in, so she snuck around the house and came to the front. And there, the system is that there are two sets of doors; one inner door that latches from the inside, and one outer door that latches from the outside. So, she very quietly closed the outer door and latched it shut, and went to tell the other gopīs that she had caught Krishna and Balarama and Their friends stealing. So, she went to call them so that they could catch them and punish them.

But inside the house, Krishna heard the door latch, and He knew that they were going to be in trouble. So, they thought about how to escape, and they saw in the corner of the wall there was a little window, so they thought, We must jump out of the window. We must escape out of the window. So, one by one, all the cowherd boys climbed out, the only one who remained last was Madhumangala, who was actually a brahman boy, and he is also a little fatty, because sometimes brahman priests and such, they are very fond of eating sweets and nice prasāda.

So, he was a little fatty, so when he was trying to go through the window, he couldn’t fit. And the cowherd boys on the other side were pulling him. But he couldn’t make it through the window, so in the meantime, the gopīs came. They opened the door and entered the house, expecting to see Krishna, Balarama, and Their friends. All they saw was Madhumangala, half of Madhumangala, peeking out of the window.

So then, they understood that the boys had escaped through the window, but they had Madhumangala, and they knew Lord Krishna is very affectionate to His devotees, and if they kept Madhumangala, eventually, Krishna would have to come and deliver Him. So, from the feet, they pulled Madhumangala out of the window and arrested him, and they tied a rope, actually, a flower garland, a rope to his tika. Then, they took him out of the house and they threw the rope over a branch of a tree, and they began to yank on the rope, which would pull the tika of Madhumangala and cause him to cry in pain. So, they would be pulling on the rope and his tika would be getting pulled and he would cry, “Krishna, please come and save me, Krishna, Kanhaiya, please come and save me.” And Krishna, hearing the cries of His devotee, had to come.

So, He came and He ordered the gopīs to release Madhumangala, and He told them, “Madhumangala is not part of the cowherd community like us. He is a brahman, and as a brahman, he should be respected, and you have actually committed a very great offense against a brahman, and you have to suffer for it.” So, the gopīs always believed whatever Krishna said, so they became very alarmed, and they said, “Well, what can we do to become free from the offense?” So, Krishna said, “You should all go to your different houses and bring all the food in the house, and in particular, the sweets, and bring all the sweets, and you should worship Madhumangala, and offer him all the sweets that you have brought, and he will be so pleased with you that not only will he forgive you for your offense, but he will completely forget that you ever offended him. And he will be so pleased that he will bless you, and fulfill all of your desires.”

So, immediately, the gopīs went to their respective homes and brought all the milk, yogurt, butter, and sweets. And they seated Madhumangala on a throne, and they worshiped him, and they presented him all the sweets they brought from home, especially ladoos, he was very fond of ladoos. And just as Lord Krishna had predicted, he forgot completely about the offenses and he blessed them that all their desires will be fulfilled. And of course, the gopīs have only one desire, to serve Krishna. So, the throne on the other side of Krishna kuṇḍa marks the place where the gopīs worshiped Madhumangala.

Then, there is another place called Pilipokar. There is a long story, but of course, all of the residents of Vrindavan are completely in love with Krishna in different moods, and they all want only the best for Krishna. So, when Srimati Radharani was a little girl, She visited the house of Nanda and Yasoda and did some service there, and Mother Yasoda, seeing the beautiful qualities of Srimati Radharani, thought that She is just the right girl for Krishna, and she became so overwhelmed with emotions that before Srimati Radharani left Nandagaon for Barshana, Mother Yasoda put haldi on Radharani’s arms and hand, which is an indication that the marriage proposal has been fixed and agreed.

So, Srimati Radharani was just a little girl, and She walked home, back to Barsana. As She started to approach Barsana, She started to think, What would people think when they see that My arms are covered by haldi? Even My mother and father don’t know anything about my marriage proposal, and everyone will be talking about it, and it will be a big scandal. So, She decided that She would wash off the haldi. So, She came to the pond, Pilipokar, and She washed Her arms and legs in the pond. And immediately, the whole pond turned yellow. And she thought, I am going to be caught.

People were also watching Her wash arms and hands, and they saw that She had been covered in haldi, and they knew that She was coming from the house of Nanda and Yasoda. So, they concluded that Mother Yasoda must have fixed Her marriage with Krishna. So, all the residents of Barshana became very jubilant because they also were filled with love for Radha and Krishna, and they wanted the best for both of Them, and they all agreed that this was the perfect match.

So, Vrishabhanu Maharaja and Kirtida Sundari, they also heard about it. They were also very jubilant, and they immediately wanted to confirm the arrangement. So, as was the system, they sent an offering of very precious gems and jewels to be sent to Nanda and Yasoda as confirmation of the marriage proposal.

So, a royal messenger delivered their offering, and Nanda and Yasoda were also very jubilant that Vrishabhanu and Kirtida had agreed. So, the news spread through Nandagaon, and everyone started coming to the house of Nanda and Yasoda to congratulate them. But when the offering arrived, Nanda and Yasoda were discussing, “They sent us such valuable presentations of golden ornaments with jewels and gems, we are just cowherds and farmers, mainly cowherds. How can we reciprocate? We must send them some jewelry in return. But we don’t have such jewelry as they sent us.”

So, in the meantime, so many friends and guests came to the house and they were very excited, and very happy, and they were congratulating Nanda and Yasoda for the bethrow of Radharani with Krishna. So, after some time, Nanda and Yasoda came back to the room where the jewels were, and they saw that all the jewels were gone. All the precious and costly ornaments were gone, and they thought, Who could have stolen them? There are no thieves in Vraja. Who could have stolen them? Then they thought, Yes, there is only one person who could have stolen them. So, immediately, they called, “Kanhaiya, come, come here, come here. Do you remember all the nice jewelry that was kept on the table here?” “Yes, father.” “Do you know where they are?” “Yes, father.” “Please, tell us where they are.”

So, Krishna, Nanda-nandana replied, “Well, father, I heard you and mother saying that you don’t have jewelry to give in return to Vrishbhanu and Kirtida, so I have seen that sometimes you plant seeds in the field and you get trees and they give so many fruits.” He took Krishna on his lap, he said, “My dear son, we plant seeds. Seeds are like grains, and they produce trees, but you cannot plant jewels. Jewels are not seeds; they cannot grow.” “No father, I think that they will grow.”

So, Nanda Maharaja said, “Okay, well, take me to where You buried the jewels.” So, He and Nanda and Yasoda went onto the fields behind the house, and there was nothing but dirt. And suddenly, before their very eyes, they saw plants sprouting out from under the earth, and within no time, the plants grew into trees, and the trees began to blossom and produce jewels as fruits.

So, they harvested all the gems and jewels in big baskets, and Mother Yasoda had her best artisans fashion, a very beautiful gold ornament, and they prepared two very beautiful trays of most costly jewels and ornaments, and sent them with the messenger. And with all the extra gems and jewels, they filled two bullock carts, and they sent them as well. So, when the offering of Nanda and Yasoda came to Barshana, again, Vrishabhanu Maharaja and Kirtida Sundari were overwhelmed with ecstasy that they had confirmed the proposal, and they wanted to fix the date for the marriage of Srimati Radhika and Krishna.

Meanwhile, Paurnamasi, who is actually yogamāyā, heard the news. And yogamāyā, as you know, arranges all the pastimes of Krishna, and she was very concerned, “How can Radha and Krishna be married? Then Radharani will become just like one of the queens of Dvaraka. This is not vraja-bhakti. Vraja-bhakti, Vraja līlā is for parakīyā-rasa, not sākhya-rasa. I must do something to stop the marriage.” So, Paurnamasi is like an older Brahmin lady, and she is like the śikṣā-guru for all vrajavāsīs.

So, she came to the house of Vrishbhanu Maharaja and Kirtida and congratulated them on the match that had been made. But then she said according to her calculations, it was not an auspicious time for marriages to be performed. “And besides, they are just young children, there is sufficient time. Let them grow and become more mature, and when the astrological configuration is favorable for marriage, I will confirm you.” And of course, they all respected her, she was the śikṣā-guru, an elder Brahmin lady. And of course, by the arrangement of yogamāyā, so many pastimes took place.

You probably know, later, Lord Brahma stole all the cowherd boys and calves and only Krishna remained. Well, Balarama, of course. So, Krishna thought, If I returned to the Vrindavan village without the cowherd boys and calves, all of the mothers and fathers of the boys and calves would be in great anxiety. So, Lord Krishna expanded Himself into a duplicate set of boys and calves, and for one year, all the cowherd boys were actually Krishna.

So, in the year, Paurnamasi announced, “This year is very favorable for marriages, this is the year to do all the marriages.” So, all the parents of the cowherd boys got their sons married, and actually, their sons were Krishna. So, what actually took place was that all the young gopīs had their desire to marry Krishna fulfilled, but they did not know it in one sense, but they felt great love for the cowherd boys during the particular year that they were Krishna.

So, visiting the holy places and hearing the pastimes of the Lord associated with the holy places is very purifying, and this is actually what we should be doing. We should be spending our time hearing and speaking about Krishna. All of our management is really just to create a facility for hearing and chanting about Krishna. That’s the only reason we take so much trouble to build temples and manage projects, just to create a facility where people can come and hear and speak about Krishna.

In 1971, we had the big pandal program in Bombay. And immediately afterwards, Srila Prabhupada was so enthusiastic, he sent Tamal Krishna Goswami and me to Calcutta to arrange the first big pandal program there. Well, Calcutta was under the grips of Naxalites. Naxalites were young communists, and they used to terrorize the whole city of Calcutta. Sometimes they would set buildings of rich men on fire, sometimes they would murder rich people, and sometimes they would kidnap the children of rich families. So, the whole city was terrorized by the Naxalites. So, we made the arrangements and we got some place on the [Unintelligible 00:48:45], which is the most prominent place in Calcutta. And people could see that we are building a very big pandal and doing very big publicity.

So, the communists, the Naxalites, they did not like it. So first, they sent a note. Just a few days before the program, Srila Prabhupada came. So, they sent a note to Srila Prabhupada, “Fly or die,” but Srila Prabhupada did not leave, he stayed. Then, maybe a day before the program was to begin, there was a press conference at the site. And even many of the reporters were in the communist mood, and they asked questions in a challenging way.

So, one of them asked, “What is the purpose of spending so much money to make this big gorgeous pandal? You could be using the money to feed poor people, help the poor.” Srila Prabhupada replied, “The reason we are spending so much money and making such elaborate arrangements, such gorgeous arrangements, is to just give people a chance to hear about Krishna. I went to America and I spoke about Krishna, and some young boys and girls heard, and now they have come to India, and they have actually done everything for the pandal program. So, the whole pandal has manifested just because the boys and girls heard, and the whole purpose of the pandal program is just to give people a chance to hear.”

So, that is our actual purpose, just to give people a chance to hear about Krishna. And just by hearing about Krishna, everything else will follow, not in an artificial way, but in a natural way, by spiritual inspiration. So, that is our only purpose in raising money, and building temples, and spending money in managing, just to give people a chance to hear about Krishna, and to give us a chance to speak about Krishna and hear. So, that is our purpose, and we should always remember it and utilize our valuable time, our valuable human form of life, in hearing and chanting about Krishna, and that will please Srila Prabhupada, it will purify us, and it will make Krishna consciousness spread automatically.

So, we should at least do as much as we can, and of course, avoid offenses, because all of the value of hearing and chanting can be almost nullified by committing offenses. So, we should be very careful to avoid offenses, and on the other hand, be engaged in hearing and chanting about Krishna. I was noticing on the altar these four beautiful swans at the lotus feet of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. So, I was thinking we should be just like those swans, we should just be hovering around the lotus feet of Gaura-Nitai, trying to get some nectar from Their lotus feet. We should not be like crows. Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments? Arjun Prabhu, maybe you would like to say something, enlighten us?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:53:32].

Giriraj Swami: Well, when we hear them, we speak. Okay, anyone else? Questions or comments? One thing I forgot to mention. Yesterday, I received an email from His Holiness [Unintelligible 00:53:58] Swami Maharaja. So, he will be coming here in the first week of December, and I’ll also be coming back. So, that was some good news. Yes?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:54:27].

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:55:15].

Giriraj Swami: Well, we have come for this hearing and chanting.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:56:00].

Giriraj Swami: Yes, I will be staying until Friday, because then, I will be coming back and spending more time, and maybe Wednesday evening, I will go to the farm side and spend Wednesday night there, then come back here Thursday afternoon or something. Then I am not sure exactly when His Holiness [Unintelligible 00:56:35] Swami will come, but I will be back around the end of November, I’ll stay till the night of December 6th, Sunday. So, we’ll have a little more kirtan.