HG Deena Bandhu Prabhu

[Guest guest]

>From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir

 

March 26, 2005

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 1.13.29

Speaker: HG Deena Bandhu Das

__

 

evam raja vidurenanujena

prajna-caksur bodhita ajamidhah

chittva svesu sneha-pasan dradhimno

niscakrama bhratr-sandarsitadhva

 

TRANSLATION: Thus Maharaja Dhrtarastra, the scion of the family of

Ajamidha, firmly convinced by introspective knowledge [prajna], broke at

once the strong network of familial affection by his resolute determination.

Thus he immediately left home to set out on the path of liberation, as

directed by his younger brother Vidura.

 

[This is an interesting verse. I don't know where Prabhupada found this, I

never saw this in English: "scion of the family of Ajamidha". That's one of

the ones which nobody knows how to pronounce, I had to look it up in the

dictionary myself. Somebody says "skee-on", somebodys says "skie-on",

somebody says "sie-on. . ." We had one devotee in Portland, Mahibharta. He

always used to say "O scorpion of Bharata". [laughter] In fact we had a

whole sloka full of his mistakes: "O scorpion of Bharata, give up all

fugitive activities and surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead who

is beyond the preview of your senses." [laughter] So Tattvavit is telling

I'm right, "sie-on". Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Srila Prabhupada. Jai!]

 

PURPORT: Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the great preacher of the principles

of Srimad-Bhagavatam, has stressed the importance of association with

sadhus, pure devotees of the Lord. He said that even by a moments

association with a pure devotee, one can achieve all perfection. We are not

ashamed to admit that this fact was experienced in our practical life. Were

we not favored by His Divine Grace Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami

Maharaja, by our first meeting for a few minutes only, it would have been

impossible for us to accept this mighty task of describing Srimad-Bhagavatam

in English. Without seeing him at that opportune moment, we could have

become a very great business magnate, but never would we have been able to

walk the path of liberation and be engaged in the factual service of the

Lord under instructions of His Divine Grace. And here is another practical

example by the action of Vidura's association with Dhrtarastra. Maharaja

Dhrtarastra was tightly bound in a network of material affinities related to

politics, economy and family attachment, and he did everything in his power

to achieve so-called success in his planned projects, but he was frustrated

from the beginning to the end so far as his material activities were

concerned. And yet, despite his life of failure, he achieved the greatest of

all success in self-realization by the forceful instructions of a pure

devotee of the Lord, who is the typical emblem of a sadhu. The scriptures

enjoin, therefore, that one should associate with sadhus only, rejecting all

other kinds of association, and by doing so one will have ample opportunity

to hear the sadhus, who can cut to pieces the bonds of illusory affection in

the material world. It is a fact that the material world is a great illusion

because everything appears to be a tangible reality but at the next moment

evaporates like the dashing foam of the sea or a cloud in the sky. A cloud

in the sky undoubtedly appears to be a reality because it rains, and due to

rains so many temporary green things appear, but in the ultimate issue,

everything disappears, namely the cloud, rain and green vegetation, all in

due course. But the sky remains, and the varieties of sky or luminaries also

remain forever. Similarly, the Absolute Truth, which is compared to the sky,

remains eternally, and the temporary cloudlike illusion comes and goes away.

Foolish living beings are attracted by the temporary cloud, but intelligent

men are more concerned with the eternal sky with all its variegatedness.

 

[repeats verse and translation, invocatory prayers]

 

I was born in the darkness of ignorance; my spiritual master opened my eyes

with the torchlight of transcendental knowledge. Therefore I offer humble

obeisances at his lotus feet.

 

So here we see the power of association of pure devotee. Dhrtarastra was

completely bound up, what is it? "Sneha-pasam." Just like we know the

naga-pasa, pasa means rope. And sneha, sneha is such a sweet word in

Sanskrit and Hindi, it almost just like what it means, sneha means sweet

affection. Sneha-pasam, he was bound up by the ropes of sneha completely.

But Vidura by his strong instructions, prajna, full of realizations, Vidura

had so many realizations, practical knowledge, not just theoretical. And

very forcefully, Prabhupada says very forcefully he told him "You're just

like a dog, you tried to kill these people, now you're just eating the

scraps from their plates. You're just like a family dog eating the scraps.

You tried to kill all these people, and now you're sitting here like a dog

eating their scraps!" He was very strong, forcefully. But by his forceful

instructions Dhrtarastra got the strong determination to break up all of

these attachments.

 

Prabhupada says this is the magic of association of pure devotees. He gives

the example of his own life. He was leader amongst all his friends so they

wanted to take him to see this sadhu. . . "I've seen so many sadhus, I know

all these sadhus. They just come, eat prasad, go home and go to sleep, smoke

their bidis and so many things. . . .No, no, no, this is different sadhu,

you come. . . ." Somehow, by force, his friends. . . because if Abhay Babu

doesn't give his stamp of approval they won't accept it, because he was

leader amongst his friends. So they brought him there.

 

So when they bowed down on the roof of that Ultadanga Road place,

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, he can see he is young man, he must have studied

in some English medium school. So he said "Oh, you know English, therefore

you should preach this message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the English

language." Prabhupada had already rejected his diploma in Scottish Churches

College, this was an English institution, he was already a big man in the

Gandhi movement. So immediately he said "Who will listen? We are slaves of

these British! Who will listen to our message as we remain slaves." And

Bhaktisiddhanta said "The message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu doesn't depend on

any material consideration, who's ruling, who's not ruling."

 

In fact I meet so many old Indians, they tell me "Oh, in British times

everything was very nice and organized. (laughter) Now everything is just. .

.. if you want to get anything done you have to give money, it is all upside

down.

 

So he said "Doesn't matter who's ruling, that is a material consideration.

The message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is eternal, it is the most necessary

thing, it can't wait for a change of government, we must give it now!" And

Prabhupada was defeated, he never got defeated in his life, he was defeated.

He said that one moment's association changed his life, according to his

janam-kundali he was supposed to become a big business magnate. Like

Prabhupada said "I would have become a big business magnate, but I never

would have been able to walk the path of liberation, I never would have been

able to take up this task of putting Srimad-Bhagavatam in English". . . so

all of us can sit here, in Sri Mayapur Dham, on the holy appearance day of

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and chant with all the devotees in front of

Pancatattva:

 

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare [uproarious]

 

This is the magic of a moment's association. Just like here Prabhupada says

that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu stressed on that point. Just like we know,

everybody knows that verse:

 

'sadhu-sanga', 'sadhu-sanga'-sarva-sastre kaya

lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

 

So lava means even a particle of a moment. Just few moment's association and

Prabhupada's whole life was changed. Same with us. You ask any devotee how

he became a devotee--"By reading Prabhupada's books." A little prasad

helped, [laughter] but the main thing was reading Prabhupada's books.

 

So just like there was one very famous thief and his son also became thief.

And when he was dying the father told the son, "Whatever you do, don't sit

in any sat-sanga. Don't hear even one word of any sat-sanga." And then his

father died. And great wealth they had collected from stealing. The son also

became thief. One day he stole something and while running away he

accidentally ran inside a pandal where sat-sanga was going on. And he heard

just a few words. The preacher was there and he was saying "The devas and

devis and bhutas and pretas, they never touch the ground, their feet never

touch the ground." He heard these ten words and then he remembered "Oh my

father said never to hear, and he closed his ears." And he ran through the

pandal but the police were waiting on the other side and they grabbed him

and put him in jail.

 

So the big minister of the king, he knew "This guy has got so much wealth

hidden somewhere, how to get all this wealth from this guy?" He made some

plan. He came into the jail--because he knew this guy and his father were

both worshippers of Devi--so he dressed himself up just like Devi and he

came in the cell.

 

He said "O my dear son!" The thief was very amazed, "Oh Devi has come!" He

paid his obeisances. "I'm very pleased with you, very soon you will get out

of this jail because I'm very pleased with you. You have done very nice

service, you have done puja very nicely, I am very pleased with you. He

thought "Wow, look at this, Devi has come!Just tell me one thing, my dear

son, because I'm very pleased with you, where your father kept all of that

wealth?"

 

Then he had some doubt and he looked and saw his feet are on the ground.

[laughter] He remembered those ten words he heard in the sat-sanga.

[laughter] He said "I never stole anything, my father never stole anything,

this is all false accusations!" [laughter]. In this way his life was saved

just by ten words of some sat-sanga. So this is the power of association

with pure devotees.

 

Prabhupada says we are all foolish, chasing after this material illusion

like Dhrtarastra, but he said this is all temporary, just like the rain

comes, the cloud comes, then it all disappears. Actually in this world,

there's no happiness. We just dream about happiness. The only happiness is

thinking how happy we'll be, when we actually achieve that thing that we are

desiring. Here he says Dhrtarastra was frustrated in all his attempts from

beginning to end. So we also find the same thing. We only dream "When I get

this I'll be fuully satisfied [chuckles]. The girl is thinking "Oh, this boy

is so handsome, when I get him as a husband then life will be so nice. Then

she finally gets married, then Saturday comes. She says "The roof is

leaking.Oh, shut up I'm watching the football game!" Drinking his beer,

"Shut up you fat old hag!" [laughter]

 

Or just like I have practical example, one time our Temple President went on

travelling sankirtana. He took the only vehicle we had, so the only way to

get downtown on sankirtana was hitchhiking. In those days there wasn't so

much terrorism and insecurity. You could just put your thumb out people

would stop and say "Where are you going?Oh, I'm going there.OK, I'll

take you this far." So we all divided up because one by one you can easily

get. If all five of us devotees try to get a ride it would be impossible. So

I went down, put out my thumb. . . and now you get an idea how old I am,

because the latest model car just came, [Jai Sri Sri Radha Madhava!] Ford

Mustang. This was the newest car, Ford Mustang, a big black Ford Mustang

with great big wheels like this with chrome, reverse wheels and big stripes

and painted flames coming out from underneath the bonnet. It came roaring

up, eek, it stopped and he said "Where are you going?I'm going to the

hill." He said, "Oh, I'm going there too, hop in." Nice big thick carpet

inside, and at that time there was something called quadrophonic sound, it

had quadrophonic sound. So I sat down in the front and it had bucket seats.

That was something new, before there was just had one big seat in the front.

But wow, I sat down in the bucket seat.

 

So Prabhupada said the way you preach to someone is first you glorify him

fifty times. [laughter] "Oh, my dear sir, you are so intelligent, you went

to the best university, you got such a wonderful degree, your wife is so

beautiful, your children are so obedient, your house is so nice, your car is

so nice, everything. Then that person, he's so amazed because he goes to

work and people call him "You sonofa. . ." nobody appreciates him.

[laughter] Somebody finally appreciated, "Oh my God, somebody really

recognised me! Yes, yes, what do you want?You just forget all this and

hear about Krsna consciousness." [laughter] Prabhupada said this is the

formula.

 

So I thought all right, he must be very fond of his car, so I'll praise his

car. I said "Oh, you've a really nice car." He said, "Man, I can't wait to

get rid of this car! I slaved like anything, I had to work two jobs, I had

no time to take my girlfriend on a date, I was working two jobs, I got this

car, (now you realise how old I am, that was when the Arabs realised that

they had oil and they were making the prices go up) and it costs so much to

run this car, and the repairs. . . and I can't still take my girlfriend on a

date, I haven't got any money, I just want to get rid of this car!"

 

The only happiness was thinking "Oh, when I get a nice Ford Mustang how

happy I'll be." But it made him frustrated. We never actually enjoy, we just

think of enjoying. It's just like that cloud. We're thinking nice rain was

there, Gaura Purnima will also be a nice cool day, but all the clouds

evaporated, and we had nice hot day like every other day. [chuckles] So we

will never. . . there is no real enjoyment in this world. Just we think of

enjoying, we make plans to enjoy, but they evaporate in front of our eyes,

the enjoyment just runs out. So Prabhupada says intelligent person becomes

more concerned with the sky, the eternal sky, the spiritual sky, and makes

progress on the path of liberation.

 

So today is Jagannatha Misra Mahotsava. So I thought we should talk a little

bit, continue the glorification of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But before that

we'll sing a little song about Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This is a special song,

because most of the songs of Caitanya Mahaprabhu are in Bengali, and I'm

preaching in Hindi area. But I heard this on one of Bhakti-caru's tapes, I

found it in my Hindi songbook. But it's very very simple. Beautiful

Braja-raga also, it's actually not even in Hindi, it's in pure Braja-bhasa.

In two seconds you'll learn the refrain:

 

[starts singing in kirtana]

 

sundara-bala saci-dulala nacata sri-hari-kirtana men

bhale candana tilaka manohara alaka sobhe kapolana men (1)

 

sire cuda darasi bale vana-phula-mala hiyapara dole

pahirana pita-patambara sobhe nupura runu-jhunu carano men (2)

 

radha-krsna eka tanu hai nidhuvana-majhe bamsi bajay

visvarupa ki prabhuji sahi aota prakatahi nadiya men (3)

 

koi gayata hai radha-krsna nam koi gayata hai hari-guna gan

mangala-tana mrdanga rasala bajata hai koi rangana men (4)

 

[We're including the translation]

 

(1) This gorgeous boy is the darling child of mother Saci, dancing in the

kirtan of chanting Lord Hari's names. His forehead is adorned with drawings

of sandalwood paste, and His enchanting locks of hair are shining

splendrously as they bounce upon His cheeks.

(2) His hair is wrapped in a topknot, and a garland of forest flowers sways

upon His chest. Wearing brilliant yellow silken garments, He dances with

anklebells tinkling upon His feet.

(3) Sri Sri Radha and Krsna have become joined in one body, and together

They play a flute within the grove of Nidhuvana. In this mood, the Lord of

Visvarupa has come and manifested Himself in the town of Nadiya.

(4) Someone in that kirtan sings the names of Radha and Krsna, someone else

sings songs of Lord Hari's transcendental qualities, while others play the

auspicious rhythms of the sweet and relishable mrdanga drums. All this takes

place in that spectacular performance.

 

 

So sundara you all know, sundara means beautiful. Sundar-lala. Now in Braj,

when we want to call a little boy, we say "O Lala, ajau, O Lala." If we want

to call little girl then we say "O Lali, ajau, O Lali." So sundara-lala,

that Nimai is very very beautiful. But He is not Syamasundara, He is

Gaurasundara. Sundaral-lala, saci-dulala. Before He was Yasodadulala, now He

has come as Saci-dulala. And He appeared yesterday, 519 years ago underneath

a neem tree. So Mother Saci gave Him the name Nimai. And His father's name

was Jagannath Misra. Misra means brahmana, Pandit. So Nimai Pandit.

 

Now on that particular Phalguna-purnima 519 years ago, there was

candra-grahana, means a moon eclipse. There are some reasons why there was

moon eclipse. Because when there was moon eclipse, then everyone will go to

the very pavitra, pure banks of the Ganga and they will take bath and they

will chant the holy name:

 

HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE

HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

 

Just at that very moment, when everybody, the whole of Bengal was roaring

with the holy name of Krsna, then Nimai Pandit appeared. This was indicating

His future mission, chanting of the holy names.

 

There's another reason, I heard in one lecture Prabhupada was talking, this

is very amazing, another reason why there was moon eclipse that night.

Because we told another of His names is Gauracandra. You know candra, candra

means moon. So Prabhupada explained that that ordinary moon was thinking

that when such a beautiful Gauracandra is appearing, then what is the use of

this ordinary chandra? So he covered his face. [laughter] This is another

reason why there was moon eclipse.

 

Nacata, this is pure Brijbhasa. Otherwise you know Lord Siva is known as

Nataraja, nata. Brijbhasa is very sweet, "nata" is hard. We say naca in

Brijbhasa, so naca means dancing. Nimai is always dancing. Where is He

dancing? Nacata sri-hari-kirtana men. Now in Hindi, instead of having

prepositions, we have post-positions. . . . Instead of saying he is dancing

in hari-kirtana, we say he is dancing hari-kirtana in. He is dancing in

hari-kirtana. Because in this Kali-yuga, this the only sadhana that will

save us from illusion. We were talking today all about this sneha-pasa.

 

Just like we were singing the other day in Bhaktivinoda's house on

Gaura-mandala-parikrama. He's got a beautiful song, Godruma-bhajanopadesa:

 

yadi te hari-pada-saroja-sudha-

rasa-pana-param hrdayam satatam

parihrtya grham kali-bhava-mayam

bhaja godruma-kanana-kunja-vidhum [repeats last line twice more]

 

Kanana also means forest, just like we know vana. So just worship, vidhum is

another name for moon, just like we know candra, also indu is there. Vidhum,

just worship that golden moon of the kunjas of the forest of Godruma. He

says if you. . . saroja is another name for lotus, sudha means nectar,

hari-pada, the nectar from those beautiful lotus feet. . . that rasa. If you

want to be completely absorbed in relishing the nectar, always in your

heart, of the lotus feet of Hari then you give up this householder life

which is full of kali-bhava. This is a very controversial statement.

 

Actually if you listen closely, what does he say, he says give up

householder life which is full of kali-bhava. Now our Tattvavit will tell

you that sometimes you use that, and sometimes you use which. If we say you

give up householder life that is full of kali-bhava, that would mean that

all householder life is full of kali-bhava. But when we say 'which', we are

making a distinction. You give up that householder life which is full of

kali-bhava.

 

Just like there was one devotee, he was present there when Nimai Pandit took

sannyasa in Katwa. He was on his way to Navadvipa to meet Him but he had to

pass through Katwa, and he got there and he saw this. . . the barber was

just crying, he couldn't cut those locks, everyone was just crying and

crying how Nimai is taking sannyasa. When he heard that name--Sri Krsna

Caitanya--he was just astounded, because he had been hearing about Lord

Caitanya from some sadhu, again sadhu association. By hearing from some

sadhu who came from Navadvip, [aside: Oh, I thought some short circuit was

there (chuckles).] he became so attached he decided to go there and see.

 

And then he saw this sannyasa initiation, he heard that name "Sri Krsna

Caitanya" he just became absorbed in that name "Sri Krsna Caitanya, Sri

Krsna Caitanya, Sri Krsna Caitanya!" He walked back to his village chanting

"Sri Krsna Caitanya, Sri Krsna Caitanya!" He got to his house, his wife saw

him chanting "Sri Krsna Caitanya!", she also fell in ecstasy and grabbed on

to his feet and they both fell on the ground rolling in ecstasy chanting

"Sri Krsna Caitanya, Sri Krsna Caitanya!" Then the son came, he saw his

father and mother, and he grabbed on to both of their feet and began rolling

on the ground and chanting "Sri Krsna Caitanya, Sri Krsna Caitanya, Sri

Krsna Caitanya!" [devotees respond] So if your householder life is like that

no need to give it up. [laughter]

 

Then what does he say? The next line is:

 

dhana-yauvana-jivana-rajya-sukham

na hi nityam anuksana-nasa-param

tyaja gramya-katha-sakalam viphalam

bhaja godruma-kanana-kunja-vidhum [repeats last line twice more]

 

We know dhana, wealth; yauvana, just like English "youth"; we all worship

youth. Now we went on this Gaura-mandala parikrama we realized how old we

are, wow. [light laughter]. Luckily some lady told us that in the

Navadvipa-mahatmya it says that sleeping is just like paying obeisances in

the holy dham. So that's all we could do after we walked: pay obeisances.

[laughter]

 

Long life, everyone wants long life. . . it's so sweet Sanksrit, you can

understand even without knowing Sanskirt: dhana-yauvana-jivana-rajya-sukham.

.. . you can folllow--it's not eternal, at every second, "ksana" means

second. Nasa-param, we heard this word before: "paritranaya sadhunam

vinasaya ca duskrtam". Nasa-param, at every moment it is being destroyed, it

is evaporating. Tyaga comes from this word tyaja. You know gramya-katha,

that's what we do all day long. It is without fruit, useless. Then what

should we do, if we give our gramya-katha then what should we do? Just

worship that beautful moon of the forests of Godruma.

 

ramani-jana-sanga-sukham ca sakhe

carame bhayadam purusartha-haram

hari-nama-sudha-rasa-matta-matir

bhaja godruma-kanana-kunja-vidhum [repeats again]

 

.. . . this happiness of association with beautiful young girls, O my friend,

in the end it is very fearful, and will take away all of your good

qualities. You will lose everything, you will lose the chance of this human

form of life, going back to Godhead. All your activities will become

useless, it is full of fear. But what can we do? "Sneha-pasam", we're all

tied by this thing. . . we're helpless. What does he say. . .? You just

become absorbed in that pure rasa of harinama. There is no other way.

 

Just like one time we were walking on the Venice Beach and Dr. Stillson

Judah--you know he wrote this one book about Hare Krsna Movement--he used to

come and visit Prabhupada. Head of the Theological Union of University of

California, Berkeley. So Dr. Stillson Judah came on the walk one day and

Prabhupada was walking on the beach and Dr. Judah said, "Prabhupada, what do

you do about the problem of lust?" Because every religion has to deal with

this problem, we all have to deal with this problem.

 

So Prabhupada stopped, he dug his cane into the sand. He said "Unless you

become Krsna conscious there's no other solution." Unless you become Krsna

conscious there's no other solution. Just like we try so many things, we try

giving up eating so many sweets, and sleeping less, and sometimes the women

became upset because the brahmacaris, "Oh, they're black snakes, rararara,

householder life, they're all in maya."

 

But this is of course. . . when we have a small plant we have to put a

fence around it. So the women shouldn't be too upset, the householders

shouldn't be too upset that they're sometimes criticised. They are putting

fence, they have small tiny creeper, if we don't put a fence someone will

stomp on it, and it will get hurt. So this all fence. But that fence is only

meant for protection. That flower, that little plant needs nourishment. If

you just give protection, you put fence, you don't put any water. . . just

like we see, those guys who complain the most, "Oh, householders are just in

maya, women are all snakes!", next time he's wearing the white flag of

surrender. [laughter] And that guy who never complains about anything, he

goes on with his service, you see him in saffron year after year after year,

doing his service completely absorbed. . . so this is fence, that's all

right, we have to do these things sometimes, you don't mind. Sometimes the

brahmacaris have to do these things because our creeper is very soft and

small, but unless you give some nourishment, not just fence, then there's no

use.

 

So what is the nourishment for that creeper? To become absorbed in this

kirtana-rasa, otherwise there's no other solution to this. Just become

absorbed in this kirtana-rasa and . . . worship this beautiful golden moon

of the kunjas of the forest Godruma.

 

Because this is the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He descended to give

this holy name, this holy name is so powerful. You may get many things from

this holy name, just like some people are curing diseases or making rain,

but the real benefit of chanting this holy name is you will get Krsna-prema.

And Krsna-prema is such a rare thing, you try to understand what rare thing,

what valuable thing Caitanya Mahaprabhu is giving freely. He is giving

freely. He doesn't consider. Someone was asking what is the difference

between Mayapur Dham and Vrindavan Dham. That is Madhurya Dham, this is

Audarya Dham. Mahaprabhu and Nityananda are blind, they don't see who's

qualified and who's unqualified, they don't worry about your offences. If

you have some little interest then They try to bring that up, bring that up.

Audarya Dham, they are most merciful, they're giving that thing which is so

rare. . . .

 

Even Brahma couldn't understand this Krsna-prema, vraja-prema. He came there

to Braj, he saw all the cowherd boys sitting there in the forest having

picnic. Just like on Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama we were also doing this

vana-bhojana like cowherd boys, sitting in the forest somewhere having

picnic.

 

So he saw that Krsna was taking a bite of His laddu and passing to his

friend saying, "O My dear friend, just see what nice laddu My mother Yasoda

gave." Do we do like that, do we bite a laddu and give to our friend? We

came here to Mayapur to learn a little bit of Vaisnava acara, how to behave

properly. We don't do like that, we bite, "Here, take". No. And cowherd

boys, what are they doing, they're taking bite and saying "O Kana, just see

what my mother sent!" Do we do like that, we take a bite of the laddu and

then offer it to the Lord? If we find the pujari eating the mangala-arati

sweets before the bhoga offering, [laughter] Jananivas will take a stick and

beat him out of the temple, cut off his sikha and send him out the gate!

 

But the cowherd boys were doing, so Brahma thought, "What is going on, is

this Bhagavan or some cowherd-made Bhagavan, koi gwal-ke bane hue bhagavan

hai? What is this?" He got bewildered. So he said "All right, I'll test".

 

So while they were eating he took away all the calves. And everybody saw

"Oh, the calves are gone", everybody looked up. Then Krsna said, "All right,

you go on eating, you don't worry, I'll go find them." Now you just imagine,

you're sitting with your Guru Mahraja and something has to be gotten. So

you'll tell Guru Maharaja, Guru Maharaja, you go get it, huh." No, you'll

say "Guru Maharaja, I'll go get it."

 

Now here's Supreme Personality of Godhead sitting and He's telling all the

cowherd boys "You sit, take your prasada, I'll go and find the calves. Don't

worry." Just imagine. Then while Krsna was gone looking for the calves then

Brahma took all the cowherd boys. Now Lala came back and thought "Oh-oh. No

calves are here, no cowherd boys are here. If I go home then I'll get in big

trouble."

 

So then He expanded himself as all those calves and cowherd boys just as

they were before. Whatever facial expressions they had, whatever quirks they

had. . . you see somebody in Bhagavatam class every three minutes. . .

[mimics nodding off, provoking laughter], whatever their mannerisms, cloth,

everything exactly. The calves, if they had a little star on their forehead

or a little spot here, everything exactly the same. Now the mothers can

appreciate. Can you imagine not being able to recognise your own child? Any

mothers here, you can imagine your own child comes home and you can't

recognise him? But all the cowherd boys went home and nobody recognized this

is not their son. Can you imagine? This is unimaginable for the mothers,

they're all shaking their heads, they can't imagine. They didn't recognise.

 

But now a funny thing happened. Because before, because we all love

children, but our child we love more. But in Braj, although they love their

own children, but they love Nandalala more than their own child. This is

very interesting thing in Braj. But from this day, for one year, they began

to love their own child just like they loved Nandalala. For one year.

 

Now that just happened to be on Balarama purnima. So Mother Rohini kept Him

home to do some special ceremonies and things. So he wasn't there, He didn't

know, even Balarama, He's the first expansion of Krsna, even He didn't know

what happened till one day, almost a year later, the cowherd boys were down

at the bottom of Govardhan Hill, they cowherd men were with the cows at the

top. . . the cowherd boys had the calves. . . . Now those calves--this is

almost a year later--they already stopped drinking milk, now they were

eating grass. . . .

 

Just understand what is this Vrindavan Dham. Lord, He became all these

calves, they were eating grass. For almost eight or nine months the Lord

Himself was eating grass of this Dham. Just imagine what is this Vrindavan

Dham. Now when you eat grass, sometimes these cows are very greedy, you see

sometimes, they rip it out by the root. Root means dirt will come. For

almost one whole year the Lord was eating the dirt of this Dham! You might

find places like Chitrakoot where Lord Rama was going barefoot, and we know

that in Vrindavan that the Lord was going barefoot, but you won't find any

time that Lord Rama was eating dirt. You won't find any incarnation that the

Lord was eating dirt. You won't find any Dham like this Vrindavana Dham. The

Lord was eating the dirt of this holy Dham. Even here, Mahaprabhu was eating

the dirt, His mother came "No, no, don't eat dirt", even Mahaprabhu ate the

dirt of this Mayapur Dham.

 

So these calves, now they're taking grass, they're not taking the milk from

their mothers anymore, but those cows they looked down and saw those calves.

Before they were very attracted to Lala, but now somehow they were also

attracted to these calves just like they were attracted to Lala. So those

cows they just began running, putting their feet out like this and together

like this, just were running like this. Cows never run like this. . . and

milkbag was just going ka-choom, ka-choom, ka-choom.

 

And all the cowherd men were saying, "Oh, no! They're going to drink all the

milk, we won't get any milk tonight!" Because if the calf comes near to the

cow. . . just like sometimes at Vrinda Kund, the pujari comes and there's no

milk. The calf broke the rope and drank all the milk. So there's no milk for

Vrnda-devi today. So all the cowherd men became very angry, "Oh, no, now

what's going to happen?" and they ran down the hill. The cows came down and

began licking their calves and the calves started drinking milk. The

cowherd men came down and were so angry, but they took one look at their

children and they forgot everything. They just picked up their child and

forgot about the milk, just smelling their head, and caressing him like

this.

 

And Balarama was going "Wait a minute. [laughter] Hey, Kanhaiya, come here.

I thought these were all some demigods, great sages or some pious people,

but now it appears to Me that they are all You. [laughter] So then Kanhaiya

filled Him in on what happened, "Accha, accha".

 

So in one Purana it is explained that Lala got worried that if Brahma goes

away. . . you know Brahma's time is different, if he goes up there. . . like

whenever you go to see your Temple President, there's a sign there "Busy",

come later. So if Brahma goes there and gets stuck in some job, some office

work--some demigod comes with some work--then everybody will die, the whole

pastime will finish. He got worried. So He went there, He became Brahma

Himself and He told everybody, "There's somebody disguised as Brahma coming,

don't let him in." He told all the guards "Don't let this guy in." So Brahma

came back to Brahmaloka and they told him "Get out of here, get out of

here!" So he just went back in one second. That one second was one year.

 

Otherwise Lala was worried what would happen if he stays there and gets

absorbed in some work and doesn't come back, what would happen? The pastimes

would be mixed up.

 

Then Brahma came back and he saw all the cowherd boys are here, all the

calves are here. He's got four heads, so he looked by that head, looked by

that head, looked by this one, then by his mystic power, he looked up there

where he kept them and said, "No, they are there, ye, sei."

 

Just like there is one village nearby our Krsna-Balarama temple called Sei.

You say "yei or "sei" (this or that). Then suddenly--we know the whole

pastime--he became completely bewildered and they all turned into Visnu

forms with thousands of rsis and everything. Then Brahma realised "Well, now

I've been a foolish guy." He fell down and offered his obeisances and begged

forgiveness from Krsna. We have this beautiful chapter, fourteenth chapter,

filled with all our favourite slokas.

 

So even Brahma became bewildered, what is this vraja-prema, even he couldn't

understand. How we'll understand? Brahma's a big, big, guy, what are we in

front of Brahma? We're like little ants, not even an ant, the dust of the

foot of an ant, we're little germs in front of Brahma, how are we going to

understand? But this is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy that He is not seeing

who is qualified, who is unqualified. Because he is absorbed in this

kirtana-rasa, this kirtana-rasa is so intoxicating. . . .

 

I have to end, yeah. Do you want breakfast or do you want me to finish?

[laughter] Which rasa do you want, do you want nice khichuri-rasa or do you

want this krsna-katha-rasa? Anyway, we're coming to the end.

 

Mahaprabhu is so absorbed in that kirtana-rasa. Visvanatha Cakravarti gives

an example that there was one Maha-cakravarti raja, means there are so many

kings underneath him. Just like we have one kingdom here and there's another

kingdom there, but he was the king of many dvipas. You can just imagine the

type of fabulous wealth that such a Maha-cakravarti-raja will have. One day

he drank some wine. He became intoxicated, and he thought, "All right, let's

open up the treasure house and give away everything to everybody."

[laughter] Nobody can stop him, he's the king. So he just opened the

treasure house and was giving away everything, I mean rickshaw wallahs

getting a diamond this big in his hand. If you saw a rickshaw wallah with a

diamond, he's a chor [thief]. He has no adhikara, he has no qualification to

own such a thing. Rubies, like this big rubies, indranila, sapphires, he was

just giving. Even the bhangis came, he was giving jewels, he was giving big

huge emerald, this big to the bhangi. He was just giving everybody, he was

completely intoxicated. He's not caring who's there, who's qualified and

unqualified!

 

So like that Mahaprabhu, now He is absorbed in this kirtana-rasa, He is

completely intoxicated, He's not seeing who is qualified and who is

unqualified, He is giving this vraja-prema to everyone just by chanting:

 

HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE

HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE [uproarious]

 

So we are all very fortunate, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada we're sitting

here in this Mayapur Dham where 519 years ago that Gauranga Mahaprabhu

appeared. That was yesterday, today is the Jagannatha Misra Utsava and we're

all sitting here before the beautiful Deities of Radha Madhava and

asta-sakhis, the amazing Deities of Pancatattva, so astounding to see them!

We're all so fortunate to be here, and with all the devotees we are singing

together:

 

HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE

HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE [uproarious]

 

Just try to understand this rare jewel that Mahaprabhu, blinded by

intoxication of kirtana-rasa, is giving to you. Take that jewel, relish that

jewel, all this lust, anger, greed, all these things will evaporate away.

Hare Krsna.

 

[Roaring of "Haribol!" and extended applause. Prabhu begins a long fired-up

kirtana.]

 

END.