Vrndavana Bhajana

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Vrndavana Bhajana

 

Written by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami in 1958, Published December

of that Year in Gaudiya Patrika, The Magazine of the Gaudiya Vedanta

Samiti.

 

1.

 

I am sitting alone in Vrndavana-dhama In this mood I am getting many

realizations. I have my wife, sons, daughters, grandsons, everything, But I

have no money so they are a fruitless glory. Krsna has shown me the naked form

of material nature, By his strength it has all become tasteless to me today.

 

yasyaham anugrhnami harisye tad-dhanam sanaih

 

"I gradually take away all the wealth of those upon whom I am merciful." How

was I able to understand this mercy of the All-merciful?

 

2.

 

Everyone has abandoned me, seeing me as penniless, Wife, relatives, friends,

brothers, everyone. This is misery, but it gives me a laugh. I sit alone and

laugh. In this maya-samsara, whom do I really love? Where have all my loving

father and mother gone to now? And where are all my elders, who were my own

folk? Who will give me news of them, tell me who? All that is left of this

family life is a list of names.

 

3.

 

Like the froth on the sea water mixes again in the sea, Maya's samsara's play

is just like that. No one is mother or father, or personal relative, Just like

the sea-foam they remain but a short time, Just as the froth on sea water mixes

again in the sea, The body made of five elements meets with destruction. How

many bodies does the embodied soul take in this way; His relatives are all

simply related to this temporal body.

 

4.

 

But everyone is your relative, brother? on the spiritual platform. This

relationship is not tinged with the smell of maya. The Supreme Lord is the soul

of everyone, In relation to Him, everyone in the universe is the same. All your

relatives, brother! All the billions of jivas. When seen in relation to Krsna

they are all in harmony. Forgetting Krsna, the jiva desires for sense

gratification, And as a result he is firmly grasped by maya.

 

5.

 

As a result of past activities he takes on different types of body. Absorbed in

that dress he remains forgetful of Sri Hari. Therefore maya gives him so many

kinds of miseries And although he bobs up and down in this ocean of misery, he

still thinks that he is happy. Lying on a bed, suffering greatly, having been

sick a long time "I am very well today," he says laughing. I get a laugh out of

his "feeling very well" This is the way the soul conditioned by maya feels

"well"

 

6.

 

How many plans they have to remain "well" But time and time again nature

destroys them. daivi hy esa gunamayi that is the Supreme Lord's maya. Try to

understand exactly the meaning of their "feeling well"; No one is well in the

whole world, but still they are saying In this way maya cheats the conditioned

soul. But, ignoring that he is being cheated, he remains absorbed in maya; And

although maya kicks him, he will not give up his mistaken conception.

 

7.

 

Again and again making plans, and again and again they are destroyed. Sometimes

he falls on the dry earth and sometimes in the mud. In this way the universe is

filled with wandering jiva souls who finally by the grace of Guru and Krsna get

bhakti--the eternal wealth. Gaining that wealth if they can give up all other

so-called wealth, Then very easily he crosses over the ocean of samsara. There

on the other side is unparalled spiritual variegatedness. There he enjoys in

eternal happiness and peace.

 

8.

 

The mad say, "There everything is formless, Without special feature like a kind

of nothing." He is actually the storehouse of spiritual tastes--raso vai sah The

intelligent knowers of tastes serves him becoming his subordinate Santa, dasya,

sakhya, vatsalya are those tastes and The best of all, madhurya, is the essence

of them all. But in the spiritual world all these tastes are relishable, Whereas

the material tastes are just shadow reflections and are all contemptible.

 

9.

 

One who worships Krsna is clever But one who worships maya is a pauper.

Becoming a pauper one engages in temporary pastimes Without knowledge of the

true relationships of things he simply becomes bound up in maya's knot. Arjuna

and Duryodhana both fought in the same war, But Arjuna was the best devotee and

Duryodhana died on one battlefield both dear and detestable One who is

intelligent will be able to understand.

 

10.

 

One who fights the war of life knowing his true relationship, He will remain

alive while all others will perish. One who does not know his relationship, and

takes up some other path, He will never attain love of god, and his whole life

is useless. First understand properly your relationship with Krsna And then

keeping that relationship, go and fight with maya. Other than this all the

heroes of jnana and karma Never attained liberation, they were all uncertain.

 

11.

 

In name only they were great sober and unaffected men, They were all

unpeaceful. Desiring liberation, sense gratification or mystic powers, all had

uncontrolled senses. The uncontrolled senses don't answer to the potency of

yoga. How many yogis and munis there were, and always the senses remained

independent. Without service of the master of the senses there can be no sense

control. They all return to material activities after a short term of peace. By

the process of yoga, no one ever attains sense control. This is explained

extensively in the Vedas and Puranas.

 

12.

 

Visvamitra sat on the yogic asana But he desired the pure beauty Sakuntala. In

this way the yogis fall down, what to speak of the jnanis And the karmis are

all just asses, suffering in all respects. The one to whom Krsna is merciful

and gives His instruction, Becomes equally as fortunate as Arjuna. But one who

fights for his own happiness' sake He, like Duryodhana, dies along with his

family.

 

13.

 

One who always fights on behalf of Krsna, Wealth, power, knowledge are all

within his grasp. Understand properly the Gita's message You will attain

Krsna's service and will worship Sri Hari, The devotees are endowed with all

qualities, So what are "non-violence" or "freedom from anger" to them?

 

14.

 

Sri Hari teaches the living entities by means of his devotees, one such helper

is Partha. Arjuna acted just like a conditioned soul Like one bewildered was

the Pandava brother Violence to his relatives and then enjoyment of the Kingdom

Could this be happiness? Arjuna showed lamentation. This though, was all

dehatma-buddhih identification with the body one who is a ksatriya gives up

such family affection on the battlefield.

 

15.

 

Krsna, seeing his illusion, chastised him Therefore Arjuna accepted the

position of disciple Becoming a disciple he listened to the Bhagavad-gita. All

his ignorance dissipated as well as his material bondage. His material bondage

was cut, but he was not dressed as a sannyasi. The householders understand the

Gita's meaning this way. The perfection of mantras, karisye vacanam tava

Therefore the war that he fought brought him an increase in fame.

 

16.

 

The Vaisnavas have no desire, they all chant japa on their beads. So what kind

of Vaisnava is this Arjuna in the middle of samsara? The Vaisnava freed from

duality simply chants japa on his beads, So say those who are eating the mind's

bananas. The Vaisnava is without desire, and amicable by nature But he is not a

forceless weakling as people foolishly think. In two great Indian wars, two

great personalities; Leaders amongst the Vaisnavas and were victorious.

 

17.

 

Because of desire for the satisfaction of his own senses he would not fight.

But he is one who is known by everyone as a Vaisnava. Those who do not see the

real Vaisnavas say that a Vaisnava is inactive. But the Vaisnava is always

active in the service of the Lord. The lifeless kanistha-adhikaris don't

perform any service. For profit adoration and prestige they stay in their

lonely place, Nityananda prabhu, who is worshipable by the Vaisnavas Suffered

blows, but still distributed love of God one after the other.

 

18.

 

Gaura Hari came with the cakra in His hand and gave punishment, After that the

Vaisnava haters were subdued. The Lord sets example Himself to teach the jivas

So one who performs nirjana bhajana simply cheats himself. The world has now

become full of Jagais and Madhais The Nityananda Vamsa has increased its

following of disciples. But eating, sleeping, wearing the dress, but remaining

unconcerned It is not proper for the Vaisnavas to remain so uncompassionate.

 

19.

 

Srila Cakravarti Thakura says in his Madhurya Kadambini Just see his conclusion

and what is his judgement. Devotional service is causeless and self-manifesting

But the Eternally Perfect Substance is always covered over. The

madhyama-adhikari therefore being compassionate Gives mercy to the innocent

souls by awakening devotion in them. The Supreme Lord acts according to the

will of the Vaisnavas, Therefore by the mercy of the Vaisnavas the bewildered

can be awakened.

 

20.

 

The Vaisnavas can awaken the sleeping world By their mercy the sinful can all

become devotees. Therefore they do not perform nirjana bhajana, That is the

world cheating process of the kanistha-adhikari All the big big famous

vaishnavas were in assembly And Padri Saheb came in to meet them He asked some

questions about Krsna's lila in Vrndavana But that association of venerable

Vaisnavas was not able to enlighten him as to the real truth.

 

21.

 

The kanistha-adhikaris do not understand these scriptures In the false pride of

being alone they simply hunt for chapatis and dal. Our spiritual master said

these are all kanistha Now I can understand the truth of what he said. One well

versed in the scripture and who has strong faith Is an uttama-adhikari and can

deliver the whole world. He is the deliverer of the most fallen and is famous

through the world. Now, save this fallen one and thus become really famed.

 

22.

 

In the Kali-yuga the jivas are all fallen and the lowest of mankind. Seeing

they do not see the different activities The Supreme Lord Gaurasundara is the

most magnanimous And His instructions are all full of nectar. One who has taken

his birth in the land of Bharata Should engage in welfare activities according

to His instructions. The Supreme Lord's lila was to relish mellows in the

nirajana But it is not the play of Vaisnavas to imitate these activities.

 

23.

 

This transcendental service cannot actually be tasted by those who are not

Vaisnavas. In the material body one cannot relish this transcendental nectar.

One who has the material concept that the body is his self Cannot relish

spiritual mellows. But those who have conceptions of the Vaisnavas in terms of

birth etc. Are very bold when it comes to relishing the lilas of the Lord. Like

the clerk in the post office, one caste goswami. The babajis all pay their

obeisances to him a lot.

 

24.

 

The Gosai Thakura has false pride in his birth Which Nityananda Prabhu cut into

pieces. I see all these things going on in Vrndavana Therefore I can understand

that there is some work to be done here The prakrta-sahajiyas all commit

adultery Taking someone else's wife they go to relish transcendental lila. This

is not Vrndavana as always think like this my dear mind Remember the Lotus feet

of the six gosvamis.

 

25.

 

The six gosvamis came and preached religious life They saved the process of

devotional service on the order of Lord Caitanya. They are all eternally

perfect associates of the Lord and always remember Radha and Krsna Remembering

them all the conditioned souls sins are cleared away But if he tries to imitate

them taking on their dress and characteristics He becomes the plaything of maya

and does not cross over the material ocean Always preach! From jiva's door to

door Your life will be successful as a result of your preaching.

 

26.

 

Sri Dayita dasa prabhu gave this instruction "Chant Hare Krsna loudly, this is

my initiation: Kirtana is not just drums and karatalas The sound of kirtana is

not this modern system Anything favourable for devotional service is all

Madhava And the only enjoyer of the three worlds is Yadava Maya's pride and

joy, the radio sound Destroy them all by forceful kirtana.

 

27.

 

Maya's is all these newspapers Preach that throughout the whole world. Sitting

alone in your room shouting, you may increase your bile's secretion But in ten

million births Sri Hari won't be pleased. Sri Hari is no one's father's

property Come out of your cage, stop making objection Everything belongs to Sri

Hari and Sri Hari belongs to everyone. Chant the Hare Krsna mantra loudly By the

performance of such sankirtana there will come remembrance automatically Then

there will be nirjana bhajana manifested in the heart spontaneously.