Sri Sri Rukmini-Dvarakanatha 50th Anniversary Festival

Giriraj Swami: Read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Twenty-five, “The Glories of Devotional Service,”

TEXT 35

paśyanti te me rucirāṇy amba santaḥ
prasanna-vaktrāruṇa-locanāni
rūpāṇi divyāni vara-pradāni
sākaṁ vācaṁ spṛhaṇīyāṁ vadanti

TRANSLATION

O My mother, My devotees always see the smiling face of My form, with eyes like the rising morning sun. They like to see My various transcendental forms, which are all benevolent, and they also talk favorably with Me.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada 

Māyāvādīs and atheists accept the forms of the Deities in the temple of the Lord as idols, but devotees do not worship idols. They directly worship the Personality of Godhead in His arcā incarnation. Arcā refers to the form which we can worship in our present condition. Actually, in our present state it is not possible to see God in His spiritual form because our material eyes and senses cannot conceive of a spiritual form. We cannot even see the spiritual form of the individual soul. When a man dies we cannot see how the spiritual form leaves the body. That is the defect of our material senses. In order to be seen by our material senses, the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts a favorable form, which is called arcā-vigraha. This arcā-vigraha, sometimes called the arcā incarnation, is not different from Him. Just as the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts various incarnations, He takes on forms made out of matter — clay, wood, metal, and jewels.

There are many śāstric injunctions which give instructions for carving forms of the Lord. These forms are not material. If God is all-pervading, then He is also in the material elements. There is no doubt about it. But the atheists think otherwise. Although they preach that everything is God, when they go to the temple and see the form of the Lord, they deny that He is God. According to their own theory, everything is God. Then why is the Deity not God? Actually, they have no conception of God. The devotees’ vision, however, is different; their vision is smeared with love of God. As soon as they see the Lord in His different forms, the devotees become saturated with love, for they do not find any difference between the Lord and His form in the temple, as do the atheists. The smiling face of the Deity in the temple is beheld by the devotees as transcendental and spiritual, and the decoration of the body of the Lord is very much appreciated by the devotees. It is the duty of the spiritual master to teach how to decorate the Deity in the temple, how to cleanse the temple and how to worship the Deity. There are different procedures and rules and regulations which are followed in temples of Viṣṇu, and devotees go there and see the Deity, the vigraha, and spiritually enjoy the form because all of the Deities are benevolent. The devotees express their minds before the Deity, and in many instances the Deity also gives answers. But one must be a very elevated devotee in order to be able to speak with the Supreme Lord. Sometimes the Lord informs the devotee through dreams. These exchanges of feelings between the Deity and the devotee are not understandable by atheists, but actually the devotee enjoys them. Kapila Muni is explaining how the devotees see the decorated body and face of the Deity and how they speak with Him in devotional service.

COMMENT

So, the reciprocation of love between the Lord and the devotees is very beautiful, and the Lord accepts the form of the deity, arcā-vigraha, especially to reciprocate with His devotees’ desires to love Him and serve Him in various ways. Here in the purport, Srila Prabhupada said the devotees express their minds before the deity, and in many instances, the deity also gives answers.

Here, I think of the story—story means history—of Shakshi Gopal. Many of you know the story, but still, I will repeat it so we can relish it some more on this auspicious occasion. But there was an elderly brahman and a young Brahmin going on visits to different places of pilgrimage. The young brahman was serving the elderly Brahmin very attentively and devotionally. Eventually, they came to Vrindavan to a very beautiful deity of Krishna called Gopal. The elderly brahman was so overcome with appreciation and affection for the younger Brahmin that he offered his daughter in charity to become the wife of the young Brahmin. The young brahman was uneducated and from a relatively poor family, and the elderly brahman was learned from an aristocratic family, so it seemed like an improper match. The younger Brahmin said, “No, please don’t promise this, because even if you want to give your daughter in charity to me in marriage, your family members will object, and you won’t be able to keep your promise. So please don’t say such things.” But the elderly Brahmin was insistent, “No, I can give her in charity to you; no one can stop me.” And the younger Brahmin repeatedly implored him not to make this promise and the elderly Brahmin repeatedly insisted. So, the younger Brahmin said “Alright I can foresee that family members would object but this is your desire and determination then you should make this promise in front of the deity of Gopal, and if need be, He will be the witness.

So, the elderly Brahmin did so, and the two of them returned back to their place in Vidyanagar. So, after that, the elderly Brahmin went to his place, the younger Brahmin went to his place, and the elderly brahman was remembering his promise. He had been afraid to express that he felt he must say something, so he said it. He called his family members together, and they objected. And the wife said, “You know, if you” Anyway, they had many arguments, but ultimately, she said, “If you give our daughter in marriage to this uneducated, poor Brahmin, I am going to drink poison and commit suicide.” And the son, who was an atheist, was saying, “You know, this is impossible. You cannot marry my sister to him. Why are you saying this?” “Well, I gave my word, and I can’t go back on my word.”

So, the son said, “When the younger Brahmin comes, just say that you don’t remember what happened, and I will take over from there.” So, it just so happened the next day the younger brahman came and said, “What about your promise to give me your daughter in marriage?” And the older brahman said, “I don’t exactly remember what I said.” And then the son took over, and he took up a stick, and he said, “This rascal might not be the exact word in Sastra, in effect, this rascal, you know, my father was carrying money, and this rascal gave him some intoxication and stole his money, and now he is saying that he made this promise.”

So, the older brahman was quiet. He was sorry at the turn of events but he felt helpless. So, within himself, he prayed to Gopal, and the young brahman said, “Well, I have a witness, the deity Gopal, from Vrindavan is my witness.” So, he said, “If you doubt me, I will bring Gopal to bear witness.” So that the son was an atheist, so he thought this is a great idea because the deity’s not going to come, and even if somehow the deity does arrive, the deity can’t talk. So, this is a greater proposal. I agreed to this, and his father was happy, he agreed, and of course, the young Brahmin, he suggested it, so everyone agreed.

So, the young brahman returned to Vrindavan to Gopal. I guess this is an elaboration on the idea that they also talked with me. So, he said to the deity, “Remember when the old Brahmin promised his daughter to me, and you were the witness? And I said I might call upon you later to give testimony. So, I need you to come now to Vidyanagar.” So, the deity replied, “I have never heard of a deity walking.” And the young Brahmin said, “Well, but you are talking. So, if you can talk, you can also walk.” So, the deity said, “All right, you go ahead, and I will follow behind you. And you will know that I am following you by the tinkling of my ankle bells. But don’t turn around to see me because as soon as you turn around to see me, I will stop right where I am.”

And every day, cook a kilo of rice and feed me. So, the two of them went, and the young Brahmana did exactly as the deity had told him. And eventually, they reached the outskirts of the village, and the young Brahmin thought, “All right, He has come far enough.” So, he turned, and he saw the deity. The deity stayed there. So, he called all the villagers, and when they saw the deity, they were struck by the beauty of the deity and also the love of the deity for His devotees. So, the deity gave testimony that indeed the old Brahmin had promised his daughter in marriage to the young one. And so, the wedding was performed.

One important point which I forgot to mention was that when the young brahman went back to the deity, he said, “I don’t want to marry this girl so that I can be happy with her, but the reason I am coming to you is because I am concerned about the old brahman’s religious principles. I don’t want him to break his principles.” So, in this way, the matter was concluded, and that deity, eventually the king of that area heard about what happened, and he built the temple for the deity. Yes. Oh, the deity is still there by the name Sakshi Gopal, witness Gopal. Another example from more recent times is Srila Sanatana Gosvami and the deity of Madan Mohan. Srila Sanatana Gosvami, one of the six Gosvamis, were living as mendicants in Vrindavan, and he had no facility really for the deity. But he had the deity Madan Mohan, and he would make these little, to think, sort of like balls of dough. Sometimes Srila Prabhupada referred to them as dried chapattis. And he would offer them to Madan Mohan.

So, one day, Madan Mohan complained that, “This is all you are offering me? And I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. this you are offering me,” he said. “Well, this is all I have. I mean, whatever you have sent me, I offer that. This is all you are sending me.” And the deity replied, “Well, I mean, you are not even putting any salt on the chapattis”

So, at that time, there was a big barge, a big boat carrying a load of salt, and that barge got grounded, standing over the Yamuna River. It wasn’t deep enough. And so, the owner, Mr. Kapoor was really stuck. But he didn’t know what to do to free the barge. So, he, this is right near where Sanatana Gosvami was worshiping Madan Mohan. So, he came up, and he explained his situation. And not, don’t remember, it is that they haven’t read this for a while, but anyway, Madan Mohan arranged for the barge to become loose. And so that merchant handled all that salt that he was going to sell. That was saved. And Radhanath swami, can you help us? What did you think he offered? Or should I just Okay. And it is something like that. He offered. He was so grateful to Madan Mohan for saving this shipment that he offered to build a temple. And then, and all that. And the deity was complaining he wasn’t getting salt on his chapati. So, he had ample salt from the shipment for his chapattis.

So, this point that the deity is Krishna is very important. And I thought to supplement what I just said by reading a couple of verses that are powerful and striking. And these verses, I mean, in my book, necessity in my efforts in devotional service during Srila Prabhupada time, I was based in Juhu. And there was a major struggle, based on Srila Prabhupada’s promise to the Radha-Krishna deities, their Radha-Rasabihari. Srila Prabhupada had said, had told them, “My dear Sir, you just come here, sit peacefully, and I will build you a beautiful temple.”

So of course, Srila Prabhupada, he had his preaching mission so a lot of his struggle in Juhu was to establish his preaching mission in Bombay. In a way, you could say that was the external reason. Nothing is any lesser, but his internal reason was that he had promised Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari that he would build them a temple. And there was so much opposition. There were so many reversals. At one stage, he said, “I wasn’t so attached to this land, but because the deities had come, Radha-Rasabihari had come, it would have been a great insult to drive them away from this land. And I could not bear the thought of that insult to Their Lordships.” So, it was a major struggle. And at one stage, early, very early, we had a rented apartment in Warden Road in Bombay called the Akash Ganga. And then the devotees brought the deities to the Juhu land when there was a pandal, we had just got the land possession of the land. Prabhupada wanted to inaugurate our activities by having a pandal. And so, the deities were brought to the pandal, and from then on, I mean, they stayed in the pandal. We had to give up that big fancy pandal we made. Like, Nara Narayana Prabhu made a little temporary wouldn’t even call it a pandal but like a tent or something.

Deities were there, and they were in a hut where the devotees were living. And then eventually, we built the semi-permanent temple, and they were moved there on the eve of Janmashtami in 1972. So, they moved around a lot, and their accommodations were not very good. Tamal Krishna Goswami used to say that he is often heard of devotees performing austerities for the sake of the deities, but at Hare Krishna land, the deities did austerities for the sake of the devotees. But anyway, Srila Prabhupada saw them as Radha and Krishna they were not just statues and his whole effort was animated by that relationship with them as being Krishna and Radharani directly. And, yes, to the end, he was successful. But early on, I think, he moved the deities from the big pandal into this, it was like a platform, and Nara Narayana constructed it like a platform and like a little house. And so, we had two brahmacharis sleep there.

So, one night, some thieves came, and they stole the deities, jewelry in spite of the presence of the sleeping brahmacharis. And Malati devi dasi was there at that time, so she informed Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter saying to me as the temple president, saying, “This is a most abominable affair.” I mean, when I read those words in Srila Prabhupada’s letter, it just pierced my heart. I mean, it was like, I don’t remember his having said anything like that before. “This is a most abominable affair. The deities should never be neglected. They should always be offered the most attentive service.” And then he said, “You should buy a safe and lockup all the jewelry.” He really responded very quickly and decisively.

So, it is described here. It is also in the Gurv-aṣṭaka, that the spiritual master trains the disciples in deity worship. At once in Calcutta, Srila Prabhupada asked the devotees, “What is the duty of the spiritual master and what is the duty of the disciple?” And then he gave the answer that the duty of the spiritual master is to serve Krishna, and the duty of the disciple is to assist the spiritual master. And then he said the same thing, shri-vigraharadhana-nitya-nana- shringara-tan-mandira-marjanadau on cleaning the temple. It is the spiritual master’s duty to see that the temple is clean. So, when the disciples clean the floor of the temple, they should be thinking, “Actually, this is my spiritual master’s duty, and I am assisting him.” So, it is, so you have service to the deity and service to the spiritual master. So, yes, I lost the place I was going to read these very powerful persons. The idea, I might think, I can probably find it just about very strong statements about the deity being God Krishna, and how we should see the deity.

Okay, so that the first in this series of three verses is a famous verse by Rupa Gosvami, glorifying the Govinda deity. And I will just read the translation: “My dear friend, if you are indeed attached to your worldly friends, do not look at the smiling face of Lord Govinda as he stands on the bank of the Yamuna, at Keshi Ghat.” So why does he say, if you are attached to your worldly friends, don’t forget it is a beautiful deity of Lord Govinda?

Yes, exactly, thank you, Maharaja. He saved us, yes, you will become, because you will become attached to Govinda, and you will lose your attachment for your worldly friends. casting sidelong glances, he places his flute to his lips, see Rupa Gosvami is not describing him as a static motionless figure, but he is describing him as active. He places his flute to his lips, which seem like newly blossomed twigs. His transcendental body, bending in three places, appears very bright in the moonlight. And then Krishnadas Kaviraj Gosvami comments, “These are very stern, and beneficial instructions.” This is Adi 5.225: sākṣāt vrajendra-suta ithe nāhi āna, yebā ajñe kare tāṅre pratimā-hena jñāna Without a doubt, he is directly the son of the king of Vraja. Only a fool considers him a statue.” 226: sei aparādhe tāra nāhika nistāra  ghora narakete paḍe, ki baliba āra for that offense, for what offense? Yes, yes, considering him a statue, for that offense, he cannot be liberated. Rather, he will fall into a terrible hellish condition. What more should I say?

And purport, in his Bhakti-sandarbha, Jiva Gosvami has stated that those who are actually very serious about devotional service do not differentiate between the form of the Lord made of clay, metal, stone, or wood, and the original form of the Lord. In the material world, a person and his photograph, picture, or statue are different. The statue of Lord Krishna and Krishna Himself, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are not different because the Lord is absolute. And there is, Smaller just to confirm what Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Gosvami said about hell, in the Padma, the Padma-Purana specifically mentions that anyone who thinks the form of the Lord in the temple to be made of wood, stone, or metal is certainly in a hellish condition.

So, I think we need these chastening instructions because sometimes, due to our material conditioning, we might not have awareness, full awareness, or enough awareness that the form of the Lord in the temple, the arca-vigraha, is the Lord Himself. And we should, you know, treat the deity as such. It is mentioned in The Nectar of Devotion that the proprietors or administrators of temples they should read the books of accounts to the deities because the deities are actually the proprietors. So they should read the books at a constant level. So, all these activities, strengthen our relationship with the Lord, and they are proper. They strengthen our position as devotees, as eternal servants of the Lord.

So, this is a glorious occasion, the Fiftieth Anniversary of the installation of Sri Sri Rukmini-Dwarkadhish. And what makes it so glorious, of course, they didn’t go away for fifty years, so that is part of it. But the other part I would add is that the standard of worship here has been maintained in such an excellent way. It is really exemplary through all those fifty years. Yes, and they are pleased, and festivals as part of deity worship. So, this festival is to remember them and glorify them is also an expansion of their deity worship. So just thank you all for coming, and any of you like to add anything? Any questions or comments? Yes,

Devotee 1: I was just trying to refresh my memory in the class in regards to one existing in a hellish condition. If I am thinking properly, there is also two other things that fall into that category. and it is good to consider the spiritual master an ordinary person and to consider prasādam

Giriraj Swami: to consider a Vaishnava to belong to a particular caste or community, that is correct, those material conceptions place us all in hellish condition ultimately. Yes,

Devotee 2: Hare Krishna. I just read in The Nectar of Devotion that one should not sit cross-legged in front of the deity. So, what does that mean, actually? Because Prabhupada sits cross-legged, and we do it every day. Is that Specific way of sitting, or is that just a detail that it is not a big deal?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I mean, the idea is that our feet should not face towards the deity but if we sit cross legged and our feet are covered then I would say it is ok.

Devotee 3: Hare Krishna Maharaja, in the purport, it was this line that said, “Sometimes the Lord informs the devotees through dreams.” How seriously should one try to infer meaning from those dreams? I have been having these outbursts of spiritual dreams for a while, but I don’t know if there is a lesson that I should learn or a message that I should try to infer. How does one approach such situations?

Giriraj Swami: You say that deity comes in your dreams?

Devotee 3: It is sometimes spiritual gurus, sometimes it is the deities, deities as well.

Giriraj Swami: Fortunate Well, Srila Prabhupada said that when the spiritual master appears in our dream, we should take it as Krishna’s special mercy. At the same time, if the spiritual master or the deity gives us instructions in a dream, we should confirm those instructions with external sources. We can approach sadhu, shastra, and guru because sometimes our mind can play tricks with us, and it can produce a dream that gives instructions that might be more favorable for our sense gratification than for Krishna’s service. So, it would be good to confirm those instructions. But Madhavendra Puri, for example, the Lord appeared to him in his dreams, and the messages were bonafide. It was a good question. Any other questions or comments? Yes, sir.

Devotee 4: There was reference made that Prabhupada had instruction Rukmini-Dwarkadhish to go back to India to establish those temples. Can you elaborate on that?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, I have heard that versions of it, but Srila Prabhupada did say that he was very happy in New Dvaraka with the deities and the devotees, and he couldn’t understand why Sri Sri Rukmini-Dwarkadhish were sending him back to India, which was not his intention. But then, when the Krishna-Balaram Temple opened in Vrindavan, he said, “I couldn’t understand why Rukmini-Dwarkadhish were sending me back to India, but now, seeing this temple open, I can see that I mean, with all due respect, but I couldn’t see that Krishna’s given me a better temple.”

Of course, they are all equal, spiritually and the deity worship here is sublime. In fact, once Brahmananda Prabhu accompanied Srila Prabhupada into his quarters here, Brahmananda Prabhu said “Srila Prabhupada these quarters are just like heaven” and Srila Prabhupada said, “What heaven is, it is like Vaikuntha, the spiritual world.” So, it is just spiritual variegatedness. But yes, I mean, one devotee asked Srila Prabhupada, “Your guru Maharaja instructed you to preach in the West, so now why are you spending so much time in India?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Yes, he did give me that instruction, and I did that. So now I am doing this.” And I mean, he really did it. I mean, like no one else before or in the future.

Well, so yes, those are spiritual individuality. And when we were preaching in India in those early days and trying to get people to support Srila Prabhupada’s activities, we would often say that India is the spiritual capital of the world. Like America or, well, whatever, New York, Wall Street is like the financial capital of the world. So, if there is difficulty in America on Wall Street, then the economy of the whole world will be affected. So, we would say that India is the spiritual capital of the world, and so if the spiritual consciousness in India is not strong, then that will affect the spiritual consciousness of the whole world. But Srila Prabhupada is so magnanimous, so powerful and magnanimous. He went almost everywhere. I mean, He could do both; preach in America, and preach in India. Does that address your question?

Devotee 4: Thank you. I have one part of it, if you don’t mind. Allow me to ask you that. That is, did Prabhupada elaborate how that came about to him, that Rukmini-Dwarkadhish talked to him?

Giriraj Swami: Well, he didn’t elaborate to my knowledge, but they had their way of communicating with Srila Prabhupada, and he had his way of receiving their message. And I feel that is enough for me to know. It is a good question, but I can’t say any more. Alright, well, thank you for assembling for this wonderful occasion. There will be many other wonderful events to follow. And so

Devotee 5: I just remember one pastime Srila Prabhupada during his last years where he requested Tamal Krishna Maharaja to take him to Vrindavan, into India specifically, during that time when many of the sannyasis were propounding an impersonal understanding of guru, and Srila Prabhupada was God. Prabhupada, in an experience of him, yet taking darshan with Rukmini-Dwarkadhish, there was some kind of, like Maharaja was saying, an interchange where Krishna told him, “I have a bigger temple for you to create in Vrindavan.” And that is somewhere on the memory tapes. No, I am making a point. It is a point about the communication between the deities. And Radhanath swami may remember.

Giriraj Swami: Just adding a little salt to make it a little more flavorful. Alright, so yes, thank you all very much, and I look forward to having more of your association through the rest of the festivities today.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Sri Sri Rukmini-Dwarkadhish ki jaya!