CC Adi 9 – Srila Madhavendra Puri’s Disappearance Day

Giriraj Swami: Today is a very auspicious day, the disappearance day of Srila Madhavendra Puri who was a very special figure in the line of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. His disciple Isvara Puri was accepted by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as His spiritual master. So, from the point of view of generations in the disciplic succession he is the grand spiritual master of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Of course, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the original spiritual master. But because he was playing the part of a devotee to set the example for us, He also accepted a spiritual master. So, I will read some verses from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta and discuss.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā Ch 9

This chapter describes the tree of devotional service coming from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and I begin with Text Ten:

TEXT 10

jaya śrī mādhavapurī kṛṣṇa-prema-pūra

bhakti-kalpatarura teṅho prathama aṅkura

TRANSLATION

All glories to Śrī Mādhavendra Purī, the storehouse of all devotional service unto Kṛṣṇa! He is a desire tree of devotional service, and it is in him that the seed of devotional service first fructified.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrī Mādhavendra Purī, also known as Śrī Mādhava Purī, belonged to the disciplic succession from Madhvācārya and was a greatly celebrated sannyāsī. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was the third disciplic descendant from Śrī Mādhavendra Purī. The process of worship in the disciplic succession of Madhvācārya was full of ritualistic ceremonies, with hardly a sign of love of Godhead. Śrī Mādhavendra Purī was the first person in that disciplic succession to exhibit the symptoms of love of Godhead and the first to write a poem beginning with the words ayi dīna-dayārdra nātha, “O supremely merciful Personality of Godhead.” In that poem is the seed of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s cultivation of love of Godhead.

COMMENT

So, Sri Madhavendra Puri was unique in the disciplic succession. He exhibited ecstatic love of Godhead which in itself is extraordinary. And specifically, he exhibited love of Godhead in the mood of Radharani in separation from Krishna. And that was the seed of devotional service that was planted in the heart of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and has become the special feature of the love of Godhead exhibited by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His followers beginning with the six Gosvamis. This verse that Madhavendra Puri composed ayi dīna-dayārdra nātha is spoken in the mood of Radharani, in separation from Krishna. You may know from the Kṛṣṇa book, or the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that the greatest devotees of Krishna, the greatest lovers of Krishna are the damsels of Vrindavan. 

When Krishna was a youth, He left Vrindavan to go to Mathura for various reasons and then He went to Dvaraka. All the residents of Vrindavan were plunged in the ocean of separation from Krishna. But of all the devotees, the gopīs who had the most intense love for Krishna felt the most intense separation. And of course, among them the feelings of separation of Srimati Radharani were the most intense. And Madhavendra Puri by the mercy of Srimati Radharani was able to get a glimpse, or I would say experience, a glimpse of her feelings of separation. And it is said that this verse that Sri Madhavendra Puri composed was understood by only three people. Only three people in the universe could understand the deep meaning of the verse. One was Sri Madhavendra Puri, one was Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and one was Srimati Radharani. No fourth person could fathom the depths of the feelings of separation in the verse. And the idea of the verse is that Radharani in the mood of separation is lamenting that she could not achieve Krishna, she could not achieve Mathura. And thinking of Krishna in separation, her heart was very unsteady. The words may sound simple enough to understand, but the feeling is very deep and therefore the full import of the words was understood by only three personalities.

Now we have come to Krishna consciousness, to be happy. Everyone wants to be happy. And generally, philosophers have concluded that the main motivation in all human activity is the desire to be happy. So, if we hear that the greatest devotees of Krishna with the most intense love are plunged into the ocean of separation from Krishna, we might wonder where the happiness is. But on the platform of Krishna consciousness, on the absolute platform, meeting and separation are the same. This is a very mysterious topic put in very simple terms. One disciple asked Srila Prabhupada that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or any pure devotee, I believe he asked in relation to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who was always in association with Krishna. Of course, He is Krishna, but He was always also weeping in separation. And Srila Prabhupada replied that, “Yes, those symptoms were external manifestations, but internally he was relishing the association of Krishna.” So how does this work? The topic of separation is very nicely discussed in Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta and Srila Sanatana Gosvami gives the example of fire and ice. When ice is very cold, like dry ice, it is so cold, if you touch it, it burns. It is cold, but it burns; it is an extreme cold. So, the idea is that when one’s feelings of separation become intense enough it becomes a meeting, just like when ice becomes cold enough it becomes like fire. And fire is just the opposite of ice. But when the ice is extremely cold, it burns like fire.

And Lord Krishna is always thinking of the welfare of His devotees. And if it was not in the interest of His devotees, especially His best devotees, most confidential devotees, if it was not in their interest for Him to leave Vrindavan and stay away, He would not have done it. So why did Krishna leave Vrindavan and stay away? The answer is that in Krishna’s physical presence, I mean of course He has a spiritual body, but I mean in His physical presence the gopīs and other residents were always thinking when they would get to be with Krishna. And even when they were with Him they would sometimes think that: “Well, we are with Him now, but we will be separated.” And so, they were even in His physical presence they were in anxiety, in apprehension of their separation from Him. So, Krishna thought: “If I leave Vrindavan then the devotees will not be so absorbed in my physical presence, anticipating meeting with Me, hankering for meeting with Me, lamenting over separation from Me. And they can constantly experience My association internally.” And so that was the confidential reason for Krishna’s leaving Vrindavan.

And the one evidence that the happiness that the gopīs felt in separation from Krishna was greater than the happiness that they could feel in His association, was that they did not leave Vrindavan to be with Him. Of course, one could say that they could not really relish association with Him the same way outside of Vrindavan, in Mathura, or Dvaraka. But still they preferred to remain in Vrindavan relishing feelings of separation than to go to Mathura which is very close to Vrindavan geographically, even Dvaraka. So, these feelings of separation are very important for us as devotees, or aspiring devotees. It is really the mood of separation that impels us in Krishna consciousness. If we take an ordinary mundane example, if someone is greedy for money, then that will impel him in his economic pursuits. Without being greedy for money he would have no impetus. So, it is really when we begin to feel separation from Krishna and His devotees, from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates, from Srila Prabhupada, from our own spiritual masters, that we become more fixed in our determination to achieve their association, which can be accomplished by sadhana and service.

I had a similar experience in a more common, I do not know, mundane, ordinary situation. But I had gone to the island of Saint Lucia in the Caribbean about four years ago—my first visit, there. And the family I stayed with were very nice devotees. And it was pretty much the first time in thirty-five years that I was in a situation where I did not have any external demands on me. And I decided to use that time to focus on japa. So, I was chanting extra rounds every day and just nothing to think about. The family was so nice, they had no expectations, they just wanted to serve and facilitate my stay. And reading also—my reading was about japa. And except in the evening, I would read from Sruti Kirti Prabhu’s book about Srila Prabhupada: What Is The Difficulty. And it was, it was such a wonderful experience. I mean of course I had to leave, but at the time I was just in the mood of separation. So, driving to the airport from their home, well you know how it is, we try, but still, our eyes wander; I look out the window, and the trees. . . And in the case of Saint Lucia—the ocean and the mountains and the billboards and the shops and the people. But I was in such a deep mood of separation, apprehending the separation, I was oblivious to all of that. I just had no interest in it. It seemed to have no meaning, no importance. And I was just thinking of the experience I had and how I would be missing it. I am chanting, chanting. . . So, the basis of feelings of separation is attachment. Because I had relished my stay there, I had become attached spiritually, I had become attached to being there and to the family that facilitated me so nicely. So, we need to have those feelings of separation, and they develop naturally. We do not have to cultivate them. But they develop naturally when we become attached to Krishna consciousness, any aspect of Krishna consciousness. And then, if you want to overcome the feelings of separation or to meet with the person from whom one feels separation, one intensifies one’s practices.

As Srila Prabhupada wrote in his dedication to his spiritual master in the beginning of his translation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: “He lives forever by his divine instructions and the follower lives with him.” So, by following the instructions of the spiritual master one experiences the association of the spiritual master. And the spiritual master means the whole paramparā and ultimately the spiritual world. And then our chanting becomes deeper.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Just chanting, chanting, chanting. This reflects in when a loved one dies. It is called samasan vairāgya—the renunciation or detachment of the crematorium. In Bombay, the only son of one of the richest Hindu families in the world died in a very ghastly way. It is a bit of a mystery whether it was suicide. There was a lot of indication that it was suicide. Although I think some of the family thought it might have been murder. But anyway, the family invited me to their home when the body was brought. And I have never seen a lamentation like that. And then at a certain stage the body was taken to the crematorium, to be burned. And there was another very wealthy, not like the Hindujas but another very wealthy Sindhi businessman who I was friends with. And he came up to me as the body was almost finished being burned. And he said, “You know, seeing this I think what is the use of this, making all this money? I think I should just be like you people.”

So that is samasan vairāgya—the renunciation at the burning ghat. That you see everything is temporary—the body is temporary, everything that you have accumulated will be left behind and what is the use? You end up as a pile of ashes. But then a few hours past, a few days past and you forget, and life as usual. So that reflects genuine feelings of separation from Krishna which are not temporary and which do not lead to misery. Ultimately, they lead to ecstasy or properly speaking they are a variety of ecstasy. It is like meeting is one variety of ecstasy, and separation is another variety of ecstasy. So, this ecstatic love in the mood of the gopīs in separation, was the special contribution of Sri Madhavendra Puri. And that is the defining characteristic of the mood of the followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Now this evening we will read in detail of Madhavendra Puri’s passing away. It was very instructive, extremely instructive. But there is one more verse which I shall read now, that gives a hint of it.

TEXT 11

śrī-īśvarapurī-rūpe aṅkura puṣṭa haila
āpane caitanya-mālī skandha upajila

TRANSLATION

The seed of devotional service next fructified in the form of Śrī Īśvara Purī, and then the gardener Himself, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, became the main trunk of the tree of devotional service.

COMMENT

So, this is a metaphor. Madhavendra Puri was the seed, and Sri Isvara Puri was the next seed of this tree of devotional service. And then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu became the trunk. And then different main disciples or associates became the limbs. Like Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, Gadadhara Pandit and so on. And then they had their branches, their prominent disciples and their branches had sub-branches. And that is the tree of bhakti—caitanya-bhakti expanded. And in one purport Srila Prabhupada says that ISKCON is also a branch of the Chaitanya tree.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrī Īśvara Purī was a resident of Kumārahaṭṭa, where there is now a railroad station known as Kāmarhaṭṭa. Nearby there is another station, named Hālisahara, which belongs to the Eastern Railway. This railway runs from the eastern section of Calcutta.

COMMENT

Now what is the point of describing the railway stations? Yes?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Of course, they exist, and but there is another reason.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, yes. Srila Bhaktivinoda says that as a devotee, we take pleasure in visiting all the holy places associated with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes. So, this gives us an idea how to get there. As now, I guess, to some extent other means of transportation have become more common, but then it was really the railway system that transported people. Even when I went to India in 1970, only the richest people had cars and no ordinary person had a car.

PURPORT (continued)

Īśvara Purī appeared in a brāhmaṇa family and was the most beloved disciple of Śrīla Mādhavendra Purī. In the last portion of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya 8.28–31), it is stated:

īśvara-purī gosāñi kare śrī-pada sevana
sva-haste karena mala-mūtrādi mārjana

nirantara kṛṣṇa-nāma karāya smaraṇa
kṛṣṇa-nāma kṛṣṇa-līlā śunāya anukṣaṇa

tuṣṭa hañā purī tāṅre kaila āliṅgana
vara dilā kṛṣṇe tomāra ha-uka prema-dhana

sei haite īśvara-purī premera sāgara

“At the last stage of his life Śrī Mādhavendra Purī became an invalid and was completely unable to move, and Īśvara Purī so completely engaged himself in his service that he personally cleaned up his stool and urine. Always chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and reminding Śrī Mādhavendra Purī about the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the last stage of his life, Īśvara Purī gave the best service among his disciples. Thus Mādhavendra Purī, being very pleased with him, blessed him, saying, ‘My dear boy, I can only pray to Kṛṣṇa that He will be pleased with you.’ Thus Īśvara Purī, by the grace of his spiritual master, Śrī Mādhavendra Purī, became a great devotee in the ocean of love of Godhead.”

COMMENT

So, this is a very important point, that Isvara Puri gave himself fully to his spiritual master’s service without reservation and without discrimination. “Oh, I want to do this. I do not want to do that.” As it is described, he cleaned his stool and urine and at the same time facilitated his spiritual master’s mood of Krishna consciousness by reciting appropriate pastimes about Krishna from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other scriptures and chanting the holy names of Krishna. And so, his spiritual master blessed him with the greatest treasure of love of Godhead. So, yes, we have the regular process of chanting and hearing about Krishna—that is the basic process of purification. And then we also have our service to our spiritual master. Of course, it is also service to the spiritual master to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and follow the process of devotional service. But when we render some special service to the spiritual master to fulfill a particular desire of his, then we can, we may get some special reciprocation from the spiritual master. And in any case Sri Isvara Puri was blessed fully by the mercy of the spiritual master.

PURPORT (continued)

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti states in his Gurv-aṣṭaka prayer: yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ‘pi – “By the mercy of the spiritual master one has been benedicted by the mercy of Krishna. Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement.” It is by the mercy of the spiritual master that one becomes perfect as vividly exemplified here. A Vaishnava is always protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But if he appears to be an invalid, this gives a chance to his disciples to serve him. Isvara Puri pleased his spiritual master by service. And by the blessings of his spiritual master, he became such a great personality that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted him as his spiritual master.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada similarly gave his disciples a chance to serve him in his last days and it is very purifying. I will give one small example from my experience. I was not in the most inner circle of the devotees rendering personal service to Srila Prabhupada at the end. That was Tamal Krishna Goswami, Bhakti Charu Swami, Bhavananda Prabhu, Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami, but I was there. But there was one service that I never did. And that was that Srila Prabhupada could not move, but he would need to pass water occasionally. And so, the devotees had a bottle, a plastic bottle, that they would fit. And then Prabhupada would pass water and the urine would go in the bottle. So somehow the idea formed in my mind that I would like to do this service sometime.

Now I was very, what to say, for me one of the best experiences of every day was offering maṅgala-ārati or the darshan ārati, at the time of greeting the deities. And I could just feel so purified by doing that service. So perhaps the day before Srila Prabhupada left, I gently volunteered. You know they were; it was obvious they were getting ready to do that. And I said I could try that. “Okay.” So, I sort of touched that private part of Srila Prabhupada, the body, and put the bottle there. I did that and I felt such a wave of purification. I felt that this is equal to offering a thousand maṅgala-āratis. I never expected it, but it was so purifying. But anyway, so, Isvara Puri he did everything for his spiritual master. And he got such blessings from his spiritual master that he was accepted as spiritual master by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

PURPORT (continued)

Srila Isvara Puri was the spiritual master of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But before initiating Lord Chaitanya he went to Navadvipa and lived for a few months in the house of Gopinatha Acharya. At that time Lord Chaitanya became acquainted with him.

COMMENT

And it is understood that he served Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by reciting his book Kṛṣṇa-līlāmṛta. And it was Isvara Puri who wrote a book called Kṛṣṇa-līlāmṛta and he served Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who was young at the time by reading from his book to Him. This is explained in Caitanya-bhāgavata Ādi-līlā Seventh Chapter.

PURPORT (continued)

To teach others by example how to be a faithful disciple of one’s spiritual master, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu the Supreme Personality of Godhead visited the birthplace of Ishwara Puri at Kamarahati and collected some earth from his birth site. This he kept very carefully. And he used to eat a small portion of it daily. This is stated in the Caitanya Bhagavata chapter twelve. It has now become customary for devotees following the example of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to go there and collect some earth from that place.

COMMENT

The last time I was in Mayapur on my way to Calcutta I visited that place, a sacred place. And the devotees said to take some dirt from there. But that shows the mood of the disciplic succession. Isvara Puri’s mood in relation to Madhavendra Puri, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mood in relation to Isvara Puri. And coincidentally it was arranged like that when I got to Calcutta. The next day I met His Holiness Radhanath Swami and we were going to visit some of the places associated with Srila Prabhupada’s birth and activities as a child and youth. So, we visited Srila Prabhupada’s birth place and we also took some dust from there. Srila Prabhupada was born under a jackfruit tree. So, there seemed like there was some sticks from the jackfruit tree lying there. So, he took some sticks.

That was very interesting because ISKCON has acquired that ancestral home. And so, we went there and nearby there was a temple with very nice Radha-Krishna deities, that was the deity worshiped by the family. And we could just imagine how Srila Prabhupada’s mother would have gone there and prayed to the deity for the protection and welfare and auspicious future of her child, even when he was within the womb; it is a very pious culture, the Vaishnava culture. And so, then after we visited the temple and the house, our guide took us, me and Radhanath Swami aside and he said: “Actually that is not the real birth place. The actual birth place is just a little down the road. But we do not want the residents to know that we know that that is the actual birthplace, or otherwise they will raise the price. And we are trying to secretly acquire it. So, I will just take the two of you. But I cannot take the whole group. And we will just quietly go.” So, he took us through this small gate down a little lane, like an ally, a little lane. And there were some children playing, you know how they play in the streets in India. As soon as they saw us, they started pointing: “Prabhupada birthplace, Prabhupada birthplace.” And then their mother came out, or one of the mothers came out and said: “Prabhupada birthplace, Prabhupada birthplace.” So, it was not a very well-kept secret. But we saw it, we saw it. We saw other places as well. But this line, this line with so many illustrious spiritual masters and acharyas really began in its essential form with Sri Madhavendra Puri whose disappearance day is today. So, it is a very important day for us. Hare Krishna.

So, are there any questions or comments? Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible] for Krishna. But now I got you. Do not leave me alone. This is the mood of separation of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He is always chanting. We must be chanting in separation from the Lord. [goes on for some time, but unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, thank you very much for sharing that mercy with us. The contrary mood is, well you do encounter it in India, could be other places that. . . I will give one example that at the ardha-Kumbha Mela in 1971, a devotee, so I mean someone we did not know visited our camp. And we were very new in India, but we were very impressed by him, because he followed the four regulative principles and he chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. He seemed very close to our line. And so, some of the devotees told Srila Prabhupada about him. He is chanting Hare Krishna, he is very good in following the four regulative principles, very good. Everything was good. And then they said that the man had said that he had seen Krishna. And then Srila Prabhupada said, “Oh this is not our line. Our acharyas never say that they have seen Krishna. They are always in the mood of separation, like the six Gosvamis.” he rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥśrī-govardhana-pādapa-tale kālindī-vane kutaḥghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalauvande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau He Radhe, Vraja Devike, Lalita, O son of Nanda Maharaja, where are you? Are you on the side of Govardhana Hill or are you on the banks of the Yamuna river? As described, that the six Gosvamis were wandering all over Vrindavan shouting out: “O Radha, O Krishna, where are you?” And these were their moods, in executing Krishna consciousness. And another important point is that we do not approach Krishna directly, but we approach Him through His associates. This is even in kṛṣṇa-līlā.

And there is another story that when Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was touring South India devotees in some place, we use the word devotee in a sort of broad term. They were saying, “Oh there is a great devotee of Lord Rama, he is always chanting the holy name of Rama. He is always weeping in transcendental ecstasy.” So, they were really appreciating this devotee and they wanted Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura to meet him. So he agreed, he met him. And they were discussing. And then Srila Bhaktisiddhanta asked him, “Your direction with Lord Rama, is it through one of His associates like Lakshman or Sita, or Hanuman or is it direct?” “No, no, direct, direct.” And then Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura afterwards said he may be a pretender. Because even when you reach the spiritual world you do not just show up and start serving Krishna on your own. You are placed under the servant of the servant, of the servant of the servant. So that is eternal—being the servant of the servant, of the servant. And therefore, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said: “dasa anudasa anudasa”—he is the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna, the maintainer of the gopīs. So, when we are so fortunate as to be able to approach Krishna in His pastimes, we will be placed under some of His associates—they will engage us.

When you walk into the temple, you decide, “Okay, I am going to become a devotee. Okay I am here, where is the way to the deity room?” It does not work like that. You start, okay, this is the bhakta leader or the temple commander. And you do what he says, and you work under his direction. And gradually he may recommend you. “Now this devotee is doing very nicely.” And then he will introduce you to someone else a little higher up and he engages you. And then one day someone will say, “Okay now, you are initiated, you are qualified. Now you can come in the deity room.” But even then, you do not just suddenly start waving the incense. You will be with some pujari who will, “This is how you do it, you watch how I do it. This is the book; it explains exactly how we do it.” And so, we are always under superior guidance even in the spiritual world. Yes, Kala Kantha Prabhu?

Devotee: My family think I am crazy. My friends become frustrated. And the materialists think I am wasting my time. And the philosophers say I am just proud. And I do not mind. Still, I will not pledge my determination to serve the lotus feet of Govinda. Although I am not able to do it. So, my question is his saying he is not able to do it another expression of separation or a reflection of what you were talking about – that he is not able to directly approach Krishna?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is the mood of separation – that one is unable to approach Krishna’s service and feels unqualified. That is humility—dainya. Humility that I am in separation. Why? Because I am not worthy of Krishna’s association. But still, one wants to serve Krishna despite one’s unworthiness. And therefore, one follows the orders of the superior and more than anything prays for mercy, feeling oneself unworthy, but still desiring.

Yes?

Devotee: How can we develop the mood of chanting nicely? How do we practice the mood of separation in our chanting? My initial question was basically [Unintelligible] throughout the lecture it seemed like is it can we like develop that mood? [Unintelligible] Or how can it come? [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Excellent question, you yourself gave the answer. That it is by attentive chanting or by the effort to chant attentively that the mood develops. But in a little different way, that we begin to understand that Krishna is always there. We are chanting His holy name, He is there, but we are turning away from Him even when we are chanting. We are trying to chant attentively. Without the effort to chant attentively the feelings of separation will not come. We are trying to chant attentively, but we are seeing that our mind is going here and there. And if we analyze why, what is going on, you will find that the underlying psychology is that I am the enjoyer, I am the proprietor and the controller. We analyze: “What am I thinking about when I am chanting?” It usually comes to the underlying conception of being the enjoyer.

Now say I am thinking about money, how to get money. How to preserve the money. How to increase the money. So, okay my mind is wandering. But what is the underlying idea? I am the enjoyer, I am the proprietor, I am the controller. And that is Krishna’s position. He is the enjoyer, He is the proprietor, He is the controller. So, we confront the fact that we are trying to take Krishna’s position. And then going a little deeper we understand that we have an eternal relationship with Krishna. But we turned away from Him to imitate Him. And so, what we are trying to do is revive our relationship with Him. So, the feeling of separation that arises while chanting is, or begins at least from the recognition that we have an eternal relationship with Krishna. That Krishna is always there, He is perfect, He reciprocates with us perfectly. But we, for some unknown reason, turned away from Him and came into material consciousness. And so now we want to go back to Him. It would be something like a child runs away from home. And after trying to enjoy outside of the home starts to realize, “I made a mistake, I am really in a very bad situation.” And starts to think over what happened at the time of running away. The child was convinced enough to get out of the house away from these people, they are stifling me, they do not love me. And they start to see things differently, “My parents love me, they were doing their best. I could not appreciate it. I was so foolish and ignorant, and wild.” So it is a type of separation, “I want to go back home, I want to be with my parents again.” And that comes from attentive hearing—the effort to chant and hear attentively. There is different. . . It is analyzed in by Srila Rupa Gosvami and it is also quoted by Srila Prabhupada in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta that there are different types of separation. Prabhupada says this is a science. I mean everything is very minutely analyzed and categorized.

So, one type of separation is a geographical separation, short Say the gopīs are in the village of Vrindavan and Krishna and Balarama and the cowherd boys, take the cows out to pasture. So, there is separation but it is short. Another one is Krishna leaves from Vrindavan and goes to Mathura. It is also a geographic separation but it is long. Another one is called purva-raga. Purva-raga means the separation that one feels before having met Krishna; when we are fortunate enough to take birth in Vrindavan where Krishna is having His pastimes. Again we will take a birth in some from a gopī, an older gopī, not a young gopī. And then we will hear talks about Krishna, from people who have seen Him. “He looks so beautiful. You see His peacock feather.” And so, by hearing the talks about Krishna we will become attracted. And then even more intimate talking about His loving dealings with His devotees and we will become even more attracted. And so, we are just feeling separation, that is purva-raga – wanting to meet Krishna. And so, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that purva-raga is the type of separation that devotees in the material world can experience. It is just like, well I mean taking a very mundane example, someone will discover a good restaurant. And then he will tell his friends, “Oh, I discovered this good restaurant. And the decor is like this, the food is like this and the service is like this.” And you hear about it, “Oh, I want to go there too.”

So, even Srila Prabhupada gave the example that when you plan a vacation, plan a trip, you hear about the place first. By hearing about the place, you develop a desire to go there. Like the family in Saint Lucia. Devamrita Swami came to visit me in Santa Barbara and he had spent some time there. And he said, “Oh, I met this most wonderful family. They are on this Caribbean Island, Saint Lucia. And their house overlooks the ocean. And the water is so clear and blue. And it is just a little distance from the house. And they have a wonderful service attitude. They take care of whatever you need. They do not put any demands on you. And the wife is a fabulous cook.” And so, by hearing I developed the desire to go. And then I went and then when I left, that was a different type of separation, after having met them and been there. I think every devotee experiences that. When you began the question even when I was speaking, I did not mention it but I thought of book distribution, that Prabhupada wanted his books to be distributed. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta says he wanted book distribution. And then the same instruction has come to us through Srila Prabhupada. And I have heard many stories of devotees who were afraid. The first time they went out; how they approach people. And I think Sacinandana Swami, he says he was a very shy person and filled with trepidation. How is he going to get up the courage to approach someone? And then what if they do not like you? Or what if they reject you, or insult you or challenge you? So that is natural. 

I think the first direct service I got from Srila Prabhupada, it was not exactly directly from him to me, but he wanted us to take his books to book stores. He wanted us to put his books in bookstores. And so, the temple president Satsvarupa dasa, somehow, he thought I might be a good person, because I just graduated from the university. And so, he wrote Prabhupada. It was the first time I did any special service for Srila Prabhupada that he was aware of. And it was the same thing—- I was nervous, I was not sure what was going to happen when I went into the store. What they would say? How I would respond? But what enabled me to do it, and I am sure it is true of everyone who does book distribution or whatever the service is, is they are thinking of guru and Krishna and chanting and praying. And they feel they are not alone. And they feel Prabhupada wants this. And so, he is with me. And he will help me. Otherwise, if it is just us alone we could not do anything, but we are not alone.

All right thank you very much. We will meet again in the evening.

Hare Krishna.