SB class by Sacinandana Swami, Vrindavan, 20/11/05

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna! Please find here the transcription of Maharaja's lecture this

morning.

 

__________________________

 

 

(Before starting, I would like to express my profound gratitude that I have

the opportunity to serve all of you by giving Bhagavatam class. As a

preacher who spends most of his time in western counties and not in the Holy

Dham, it's a great privilege to be here. I feel what we deliver today from

the sastra today might change your life. It is very profound. It is

certainly very important and has changed the perspectives of many devotees

who became aware of this subject).

 

kaccid yasodha ratha-yuthapanam

gandiva-dhanvoparatarir aste

alaksito yac-chara-kuta-gudho

maya-kirato girisas tutosa

 

Translation:

 

[Please tell me] whether Arjuna, whose bow bears the name Gäëòéva and who is

always famous amongst the chariot warriors for vanquishing his enemies, is

doing well. He once satisfied Lord Çiva by covering him with arrows when

Çiva came as an unidentified false hunter.

 

PURPORT

Lord Siva tested Arjuna's strength by picking a quarrel with him over a

hunted boar. He confronted Arjuna in the false dress of a hunter, and Arjuna

covered him with arrows until Lord Siva was satisfied with Arjuna's

fighting. He offered Arjuna the Pasupati weapon and blessed him. Here Vidura

inquired about the great warrior's well-being.

 

 

(Invocatory prayers)

 

Vidura here asked about Arjuna's well being. We know that after Lord Krsna

had left the planet, Arjuna was despondent. Not only that, Arjuna's

tremendous fighting abilities, which are here hinted at, mysteriously

disappeated from Arjuna so that he could be overwhelmed by an unqualified

and not at all equal enemy, some thieves. Strength in devotional life-I

would like to enter my subject from this door-strength in devotional life,

or strength in life at all comes when the heart is full with love. A heart

which is empty has no love in it, has not strength. Such a heart will be

overwhelmed very easily by the thieves of lower life, kama, lust, krodha,

lobha, and so on and so forth. But the heart which is strengthened by love,

or let us speak of devotional community, our own community, a heart which is

strengthened by genuinely felt bhakti, is strong and cannot be occupied by

the thieves of spiritual consciousness. Only a heart which is strengthened

by bhakti opens the eyes for a spiritual perspective. This point in

explained in the Brahma-samhita in the sloka " premanjana bhakti

vilocanena". That is Govinda can be perceived only by the eyes which are

opened, which vision is opened by the medical application of the balm, or

cream, of love.

 

Those of you who have undergone Ayurvedic eye treatment do know what

happens. Some capati dough rings are put around both eyes and liquid is

poured in this dam area and then you are requested to open your eyes so that

the medical oil soaks the eyeball and the eye nerve. In the beginning, you

see nothing, it is very, very blurry when you look up. It looks as if you

look into a tainted milk glass but when this oil is removed, you see a new

world. It is really like this. New colors, things appear in different

perspectives. It is amazing. Those of you who have the first letter of

Yamaraja that you become old and approach death, that is eye glasses or

failing eye sight (chuckles), please undergo Ayurvedic eye treatment to

understand the depth of this example of Brahma-samhita.

 

This is happening when the heart if full of bhakti. This bhakti will bring

totally new perspective to the devotional life. You will see your whole

Krsna consciousness in an entirely different way and you will be able first

of all, willing and then able, to do everything in your power to become a

humble devotee who is tolerant of the disturbances which happen in the

material world. You are willing to do everything to reach your spiritual

goal. You are even willing to become humble, and declare the insignificance

of your false ego. It amounts to a severe war.

 

This bhakti is very, very, very important. Without the bhakti, you may stay

in Krsna consciousness, perform sadhana, but it will not have any use. I

would like to now bring this point which you have heard in 1008 lectures

already before, I would like to look at this one point now from a

perspective which will engladden your heart and fill your heart certainly

with bhakti. It is said that anyone who hears this story enters into what

modern psychology calls therapeutic hearing or what bhakti scriptures

describe as gets sukriti or benefit from hearing this.

 

There was a time when Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not stop before the

altar. There were many times, but I will tell you one time. No, He crossed

the barrier and He went to the altar and sat down on the altar. He appeared

in the mood of a devotee, but there were times when He crossed the line. He

sat down on the altar and called-let us now focus our attention on this one

particular time -and called His devotees forward and showed him his divine

opulence, or His godly identity as being Bhagavan. He, for instance, called

Murari Gupta, who was a Ram Bhakta, and said, "Murari, Murari! Come!"

 

You must know first of all that the voice of Lord Caitanya was extremely

loud. It sounded like one million roaring lions when He used this voice in

ecstatic ecstasy. I have not at all spoken loud this time. Only by the

divine sakti of Lord Caitanya, who protected the ear drums of His devotees,

there was no accident which needed repair, ear drum puncture.

 

"MUARI!" We might get some here. "MURARI!" Those who have been in lectures

of Sacinanada Swami before all know he cannot tolerate sleeping devotees.

Better you stay awake otherwise it will become really loud. (laughter)This

was nothing.

 

Trembling, Murari Gupta came. Then the Lord. . . he didn't' see anymore that

golden effulgent brahmana, he saw Lord Ramacandra and Laksmana and Sita.

Here Radhanath Maharaj always says he looked down and saw a tail on his

body. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, "I am Ram and you are Hanumana," remembering

Murari Gupta of his previous identity. In this way, Caitanya Mahaprabhu

called for many, many devotees and showed them their worshipped Lord showing

that He is their Lord, He has come.

 

Only one devotee was not called, Mukunda. Srivasa Pandit approached Lord

Caitanya and said, "Your Mukunda is waiting outside the door, you have not

called him, he cannot come.". Lord Caitanya again raised His voice, He

become very loud, but this loudness we cannot imitate. It was only to wake

you up. "I will never see Mukunda again. This rascal says I have no form, I

cannot eat. In this way, he beats me with sticks. Then he comes here for

devotional assembly and says, 'Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna'. This duplicitous

rascal who goes to these yoga-vasista seminars with this impersonal

interpretation will never be seen again."

 

Mukunda was at the door and heard the answer of the Lord. He become so

despondent and immediately he decided that the only option was to commit

suicide. "This sinful body," he said, "which cannot be seen by the Lord, has

no use. But before, ask the Lord," he said, "when will I see the Lord

again?" Srivasa asked Mahaprabhu and Mahaprabhu answered, "After ten million

births!" When Mukunda heard this-he was not like an ordinary person who

joins the Hare Krishna movement and after one year he is not yet a

maha-bhagavata, is disappointed and enters the market of possibilities

(other). No, no, his response was, "I will see! I will see after ten

million… I will see… very good!" This tremendous joy of anticipation filled

his heart with a surge of ecstatic emotions which blended out his whole

nervous system so that he collapsed in ecstasy on the ground.

 

Lord Caitanya smiled. "Bring him in," He said. Mukunda could not walk, he

was carried in by the devotees. Lord Caitanya asked him to offer prayers.

What you have heard now is only a prelude of our topic today. He spoke

exactly about bhakti and how only by bhakti or loving devotional service

form the heart can a person see. He gave the example of Duryodhana. He said

his entire family was stamped out, he was undergoing extreme pain, his death

was not a quick death, because he lacked the slightest devotion to You.

 

When Lord Krsna came to the court of the Kauravas. . . He declared, "The

Pandavas are My friends. Anyone who is an enemy to the Pandavas is an enemy

to Me." And Duryodhana said, "Enough of this peace talk of Vasudeva. He

wants to convince us to not engage in sacred war. Men, catch Him immeidatley

He will go to prison!" The voice of Duryodhana was much nastier. Please stay

awake.

 

At that time, Krsna, to show that the Kauravas had no chance if they wanted

to engage in war, manifested a partial manifestation of the universal form.

Duryodhana saw that but He could not see Krsna, he said, "This is a trick

like a cheap yogi can do. Bind him!" They tried to apply ropes and bind Him.

.. . (unclear). Duryodhana saw, but because he had no bhakti, he could not

see.

 

Other examples have been given by Mukunda: the kings who were there to

attend the marriage ceremony of Rukmini also saw Krsna who gracefully

kidnapped Rukmini. Mukunda said, You went to rescue Rukmin from the

overprotection of many powerful kings who saw you approach mounted on Your

bird carrier. The variegatedness of Krsna lila-sometimes He comes on Garuda.

They saw your noble form and effulgence. Your devotees like Brahma meditate

on this form hoping to catch a glimpse of the toenails of this form and the

light thereof, but the kings declared war against You. Hiranyaksa and

Hiranyakasipu saw You, but because they saw You without devotion, they

became engaged in mad animosity and war against You.

 

Then Mukunda gives examples of simple people who had devotion for Krsna and

who saw Krsna in a blissful loving way: Kubja, the hunchback maidservant of

Mathura, the wife of the sacrificial brahmana priests of Vrindavana, the

noble ladies of the Mathura palaces, and the mali, the garland maker,

Sudama. They saw You. What was their practice before they saw you? Nothing!

.. . . Yet all of them were elevated to the blissful state of loving

devotional service to You.

 

And he carries on with another point. He says how bhakti gives tremendous

strength to the heart and by the strength of bhakti, any one of us can do

impossible things. See what Prabhupada did by the strength of bhakti,

guru-bhakti, Krsna-bhakti. . . impossible, very, very tremendous things.

Mukunda's example is Ananta Sesa. He is in space without any support.

Nothing holds him, but he supports every planet by the strength of bhakti.

Ananta Sesa glorifies the Lord.

 

I am worst han an insect yet I am not moved by such devotion. Oh Lord, how

can I ask to see You?" As Mukunda was saying this, he raised his arms, he

trembled and he cried. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu responds. There is a long

response, but to bring out one point, we will only go. . . . He first of all

was very satisfied by Mukunda. He said, "I personally have made you speak

the truth about bhakti, nothing is of any value if it is devoid of My

bhakti, My devotional service." Then he gives an example which is so

surprising. I read it the first time in Krsna Kathamrita Bindu, this is a

little advertisement of this little email newsletter with necar. Please take

note of this.

 

There a quotation appeared from Garga Samhita, which Lord Caitanya

Mahaprabhu also picks up here. He talks about a person who has for many

lifetimes done sadhana apparently without bhakti, and who wants to see

Krsna. But when Krsna appeared before him, he did not see Him. He was

against Him. Do you know of who Caitanya Mahaprabhu speaks of here? I think

many you will not believe me if I do not read it here.

 

Demon King Kamsa's washerman, says Lord Caitanya, also saw Me. I asked him

for help, but he refused. This was very unfortunate for him because he was

deprived of the opportunity to render devotional service. He had no

attraction for Me. When Krsna came in a playful mood going through the

streets of Mathura, He saw Kamsa's washerman with the kingly dress. And in a

playful mood, Krsna smiled a sweet encouraging smile.

 

The smile of Krsna, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur says, is either

to acknowledge the devotional service of a devotee or encourage a devotee in

devotional service. So Krsna smiled an ecstatic smile at the washman and

said, "Please give me this dress, it is very suitable." It was the king's

dress. The washerman looked at Krsna. It speaks a little more about his

psychology. He had no attraction for Me, Lord Caitanya said, remembering

this time in Mathura. He had performed very severe austerities and penances

for many, many lifetimes just to see Me. This piety gave him the good

fortunate to finally see Me. Krsna was there smiling, giving the opportunity

for very intimate anga seva, serving His bodily limbs by putting on a dress,

yet he could not experience the exhilaration-I'm sure I'm mispronouncing it

terribly-the exhilaration, the excitement, the joy, the ecstasy of seeing Me

due to a lack of devotion. Then Lord Caitanya says, "I do not show any mercy

to non devotees, even if they see Me." (chuckles)

 

Let me here turn to MadhavaNanda who might know, was this washerman the same

who told this line that Sita was with Ravana and could not be accepted by

Rama or not? It is commonly said by many people, but it's not yet read so

let us not dive under… Anyway, isn't that surprising, that someone does

sadhana without bhakti. It is possible therefore, to do the false thing, to

be an imitation devotee. Hare Krishna.(chuckling) It is not impossible.

Please, this lecture will have a fortunate ending, don't' become so. . .

he's speaking about me! It's a philosophical presentation, don't' become

mental now. But maybe think. . . .

 

Lord Brahma had come to Vrindavana. He had heard that the Lord had appeared.

He saw Krsna in the assembly of cowherd boys. He saw that Krsna diverted the

attention of one cowherd boy. Maybe Krsna said, "Look there, look there!"

Then Krsna leaned over to the plate of his friend and took a sweet from

there. . . I don't remember what Gopal Campu says He took, but He ate from

the plate of his friend. Brahma saw this from his swan, the authority of Rg

Veda, Sama Veda, all this emanated from Brahma's mouth, and He said "What!

This cannot be God. God knows this basic point what is suci what is muci,

what is pure what is impure!"

 

To eat from another's plate, by the way, is not considered extremely suci,

unless of course it is God's plate or a very, very exalted devotees' plate.

So Brahma said this cannot be God. So he tested Krsna by the well known lila

of kidnapping the cowherd boyfriends and wanted to see what Krsna does then.

He was of course very surprised when he had finally understood that Krsna

was God because He had expanded Himself into this multitude of cowherd boys

and cows without Brahma being able to tell the expanded forms from the

original cows and boys. It is a long lila, you can read in Krsna book, but

after Brahma had finally seen that Krsna had expanded Himself into millions

of Visnus-it's a long lila, I cannot tell it in detail-then he bowed down

and offered obeisances to Lord Krsna.

 

And then if you read the prayers of Lord Brahma very carefully you will find

out that Brahma asked Lord Krsna for nothing less than the means to get

bhakti in his heart so that that mistake to see God and not see God will not

be repeated by him again in the future. Brahma will ask Krsna for a place

from where he can obtain that bhakti. My dear devotees, we must get this

bhakti in our hearts otherwise it is a meaningless activity we do. Where do

we get it from? Please let us ponder about this.

 

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur writes about bhakti in relation to the Holy Name.

He said, "I have chanted lakhs of names but not a drop of bhakti.Oh", he

says, "what a counting game." You know in Germany, children get counting

games. It is a little device, those of you who are parents, it is very nice,

children can learn counting very easily. There are metal sticks with beads

running on it. Then children can learn, this is five, ten. This is called a

counting game.

 

One round, after seven minutes, two rounds; after three minutes, because

that was a very unconcentrated round, after ten minutes, because we fell

asleep, wow, four rounds! What a counting game! It is sympathetic for a

child to be in a counting game but not for a grown up man or grown up woman.

There must be bhakti in the heart to make it a real serious sadhana.

Chanting without bhakti is a counting game.

 

Devotional service without this love is devotional service in practice. It

is not entirely valueless, it has value, but it is in practice. Let us not

be too judgmental here. Krsna is satisfied to some degree, "They are

trying." There is a comment by Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur: "My devotee

performs bhakti," the Lord is sympathetic, there is some mercy coming, but

the Lord wants bhakti, this we have heard in Caitanya Caritamrta. The

wonderful thing is, Lord Caitanya says… I will come later to this. Let us go

back to Brahma, not jumping too much.

 

Brahma says to Lord Krsna, he's aware, he saw Lord Krsna and he had no

bhakti and therefore, he made an offense to Lord Krsna. If you have no

bhakti, aparadhas will come because you will not be able to behave properly.

So Lord Brahma says to Lord Krsna, "My dear Lord, I am now going. This

Vrindavana is too high a place for me, I am now going, but before I go, just

one request, please give me the opportunity to be born in some future birth

amongst your devotees. I don't mind if this birth is the birth of an

insect."

 

You know when the mosquito comes, you immediately go (makes waving motions).

.. . Very impolite, almost aggressively you do this. And if you are very

aggravated, you might even become a killer for one second. This happens.

This position is not entirely unfounded. You can consider the mosquito as an

enemy who attacks with deadly weapons, the pinch, sting.

 

So Brahma says the creator of the universe, I am ready to come down to the

position of an insignificant insect if I can be in the house of your devotee

because (this is implied) because Brahma knows he can get bhakti there by

hearing form truthful devotees, serving truthful, or bona fide devotees,

bhakti can come. There is this verse some of you know:

 

satam prasanga mama virya samvido, bhavanti hrt-karna rasayana katha

 

It says by staying in devotee association, by hearing the rasayana katha.

Rasayana-katha, those of you who are interested in Ayurveda, when you go

through panca karma, there is a total overhaul of your body, they will first

take everything out of your body. You know the story of liquid beauty -

that is one of the tasks. All of the liquids of your body you have to

surrender to gravity one day. You can pitch your tent in the bathroom that

day. You look totally weakened that day, you look like a ghost, then they

give you rasayana, a strengthening tonic which that builds up the stength of

your body with healthy substance. These rasayanas are given to you in

different ways which we will not explain in front of the Deities, and you

will become very strong.

 

So to stay in the association of devotees, and hear, you need to hear and

chant with them. These devotional activities we do especially in a large

proportion in the Dham, are strengthening, or rasayana-katha, it gives the

strength of bhakti into your heart. This is the place where you can obtain

the strength which you need, the bhakti which you need for your life and it

is so wonderful that I really wish to thank the devotees of the Krishna

Balarama temple from my heart with really sincere gratitude, by keeping up

this temple in such a nice and spiritual mood it is very easy for us to feel

that bhakti enter into our hearts. We see the wonderful Deities in this

wonderful dress today with all these flowers. This is the spiritual world.

You come and enter a spiritual program and Bhagavad-gita class, everything

is going on, so that you can strengthen yourself with the help of the

increased potency, called paraka-sakti which is in the transcendental Dham,

which makes your attraction to Krsna even greater and bigger. So when you go

the Dham, you will contact this paraka-sakti of the Lord and it will aid

your chanting your sravana kirtanam, your Deity worship, and all the

ninefold process of devotional service. You will be aided by the

paraka-sakti, the sakti that draws your heart closer to Krsna and gives you

ultimately an impetus to go, go, go, back to Godhead, go forward.

 

Now we will quickly come to the close of the lecture. I will now challenge

all that I have said. This is no longer Sacinandana Swami speaking, this is

another person: My dear Hare Krishna lecturer, please stop now, you are

misleading your audience. Modern psychology has shown that by doing a

certain activity, the mood or the spirit can enter your heart. Consider

laughter therapy. You laugh without any reason, not real laughter, it is

just a shaking of the muscle. If you do this, after some time, you really

start to laugh. The mood comes. Or treatment. You can give a patient a set

of activities which he does. If you want, I can make an experiment with you

but I don't know if you'd like it so I will describe the experiment. I don't

do this in Vrindavana Dham, but I often do it with non-devotional audiences.

Don't do it please. I tell them to sit straight, put their heads in an

arrogant way to the sky and tell me after some time how they feel. Then I

tell them now to do like this [puts his head down with joined palms] now

they go like this and they feel differently. First they feel arrogant, but

if you take the humble position like this, some humility will be coming.

 

This point was also raised to Prabhupada, "Prabhupada, how do we become

humble?" Prabhupada said, "Act humble." Please those of you who are not

humble, like me for example, I know someone who gets on your nerves I think

"Wait until my material intelligence formulates a response to your

foolishness and you will sink to the ground." But then a thought come, "I

should be humble, Krsna is teaching me. So I can say, "Prabhu, I am your

servant, you are probably right." And after some time, you feel humble. In

fact, this is the whole psychological foundation, there are spiritual

foundations also of vaidhi sadhana bhakti, you gain sukriti by doing this,

you attract some spiritual energy, so why do you say bhakti must be in the

heart in order to see, feel, in order to do the real things. This was the

challenge. . . . Anyway, others who have understood, you can ask them.

 

A little bhakti must be there in any case. Bhakti is translated by Baladeva

Vidyabhusana as. . . First, we could go to another verse, the foundational

verse, which says how you can obtain Krsna consciousness. And you know there

is this sloka that by eagerness, eagerness is the price which you have to

pay in order to become Krsna conscious. Eagerness amounts to thirst. When

you have a wonderful plate before you but no eagerness or hunger or

appetite, will you eat or will you not eat? No, I will not eat. If someone

brings a plate before my eyes, I will say, it looks interesting, thank you,

but only if you have some eagerness, some thirst, only if you have some

hunger, "Haribol!", then you will partake of the meal of Krsna

consciousness. Only if you have some bhakti in your heart will you take to

it and only then can whatever you do at that stage effectively transform

you. Bhakti is important.

 

Therefore everything starts with sadhu-sanga, first some sraddha and then

sadhu-sanga because only through sadhu sanga can you obtain bhakti. Let us

never make sadhu-sanga the meeting place of politics or an opportunity to

exercise our inclinations and capabilities for quarrel. We have tremendous

capabilities for this activity in Kali-yuga. Sex and quarrel is very natural

for the Kali-yuga person. Let us somehow make this sadhu sanga into a forum,

let us protect the sadhu-sanga as a forum so that the real delivery can be

done, rasayana katha. Let us talk which moves something, which makes a

mellow taste in the heart, which is bhakti. It's very, very important

because without bhakti our progress in devotional service will be slow

because without bhakti we have no enthusiasm in our hearts and no eagerness

and then we will not take any longer to the process of Krsna consciousness.

Or we will take to the process of Krsna consciousness but without bhakti the

possibility of offenses are very close. When we have bhakti in the heart, we

do not think of offenses we think, "Oh Krsna, Krsna." We do not think of

these mental. . . we leave these ill feelings.

 

This lecture will end now but I will request you to sincerely think about

this as you leave the lecture, how can you have more bhakti in the heart.

Krsna consciousness is the highest objective. It is about you, about me, not

about Sacinandana Swami, the universal me. It is about that. And in the Dham

we can sit back and reflect on this question that I have practiced Krsna

consciousness but how can I have more bhakti in my heart, how can I do this?

By keeping in the association of devotees and rasayana katha, hearing about

Krsna, about the process of devotional service, etc. So this bhakti is very

important.

 

I would like to add, we are in Vrindavana; we should speak Krsna-lila. Nanda

Maharaja, the cowherd boys came to Nanda Maharaj, "Nanda, you claim that

Krsna is your son. We have thought in our community about it and found out

it can't be true. First argument, Krsna held a mountain for an entire week

on His hand, you cannot even lift a rock for an hour also, for a brief

moment in time, but the son should inherit the qualities of the parents.

Krsna has qualities which He has not possibility inherited from you. Another

point is Krsna is so black, you are not black."

 

You notice there is a white mother and father and they bring to you a black

little girl and say, "This is my daughter."

 

You would say, "How? Some genealogical mutilation or what? This is not

possible."

 

Then they became very angry, "Nanda Maharaja, if you don't tell us the truth

about Krsna and you, we will kick you out of our community. We cannot stand

to hear this lie any longer."

 

Nanda Maharaja says, "I can calm your doubts. On the name giving ceremony of

Krsna, Garga Rsi said, 'This boy is the Supreme Personality of Godhead who

has appeared in this family on His own volition. The letter "K" in Krsna

stands for kamalanayana, the lotus eyed Lord. "R" stands for Rama. "S"

stands for sat-guna-pati, the Lord of six wonderful opulences. "N" stands

for Nrsimhadeva. And "A" stands for aksaya. So Krsna is all of that. He is

God.'"

 

But the cowherd men became even more angry, "Aaah, this you say, but the

name giving ceremony of this boy, of Krsna, was performed in secret. You

have not invited us. We have not heard this from Garga Rsi." They obeyed the

words of a brahmana, in other words, Garga Rsi, but not Nanda Maharaja. "Are

you well satisfied with making a claim which no one has heard? How satisfied

are you with this statement?"

 

Very angrily, the cowherd men walked off to Vrsabhanu Maharaja, who is a

king also, to make a complaint. "We want to ostracize this Nanda. You

exorcise this Nanda."

 

Vrsabhanu says, "Why do you want to do this? He is the best. Father of

Krsna. You have not thought very tactfully and very cleverly."

 

When the cow men see the unwillingness of Vrsabhanu Maharaja to go to Nanda

Maharaja, who is his best friend, they turn to Vrsabhanu Maharaja, "You have

a daughter and it is not known that you make arrangements for Her marriage.

What kind of father are you?" Now the aggressiveness of the cowherd men

turns to Vrsabhanu Maharaja.

 

"This daughter is none else than the Almighty. She is Lakmi, Srimati

Radharani. Garga Rsi came to me and said she will be married to Krsna. Don't

worry about Her marriage."

 

The cowherd men are not satisfied. They say, "Let us test Nanda today." You

say betrothal gift? It is when boy and girl are promised to each other. It

is not yet marriage, but engagement. "You send an engagement gift of pearls

and diamonds and then we will see how if Krsna is God and Krsna is Nanda's

son, then Nanda should be able to respond."

 

Vrsabhanu Maharaja is subdued to this and he arranges one lakhs of valuable

pearl necklaces. They are loaded onto ox carts and brought to Nanda. When

Nanda sees the ox carts, fear rises into his heart. When the cowherd men

say, "Here is the betrothal gift of Vrsabhanu Maharaja for the betrothal of

his daughter Radha to Krsna," Nanda thinks, "Now I am expected to return an

even bigger gift, but I do not have this in my treasury." He goes to Yasoda,

"What should we do? How should we respond, we are not able?"

 

Krsna goes to where all the pearls are, takes a hundred pearl necklaces,

takes the pearls to the earth and puts them into the soil of Vrindavana.

Nanda Maharaja goes to the cart where the necklaces were kept and see that

necklaces are missing. He thinks, It must be Krsna, He is known for stealing

butter." He goes to Krsna, "Krsna have you taken some pearls."

 

"Yes, father, I have sown the into the ground of Braja so there will be more

pearls and you can responds the gift.

 

Nanada says, "My dear boy, pearls don't grow from the ground. Where you have

put these pearls? I have to reclaim them."

 

Krsna goes to the fields. As Nanda Maharaj goes to the fields, he sees the

most wonderful trees with the most wonderful pearls. "You have done this?

Wonderful!" He calls all the cowherd men. "Cowherd men, see, Krsna has grown

many wonderful pearls!" From each pearl was a huge tree with pearls of

innumerable value. "Come and see with your own eyes. Come and see Krsna!"

 

The cowherd men see, "Thik hai."

 

I wanted to tell you how Krsna is just waiting. Sometimes a devotee is

apparently put into illusion. This is a lila on high level, but even

devotees in this world are sometimes put to tests. We are brought to a

situation where our faith is not so strong. We are brought to our knees. We

are brought to crawl on our bellies in humility. At that time we may turn to

the Lord, "I acknowledge I have no other shelter than You, my Lord. I have

no other shelter than You." As we say it, we begin to feel relief in our

heart. As the relief increases, we feel, "Oh Krsna!" Then as we feel, "Oh

Krsna," we feel deeper, increased faith, "You have promised to protect Your

devotees." We have hope. As our hope rises, bhakti rises.

 

My dear devotees, when you have no bhakti in the heart, like me, you will

experience, if you want to continue the part, Krsna will bring you sometimes

on your knees. Don't think anything is wrong at that time, everything is

super right at that time. You have received the mercy of the Lord at that

time. Now you have no one else to depend. Your material shelters have burned

in the fire of public assault (?). Now you can turn to the Lord. The moment

you turn to the Lord, Please, please accept me." The moment you do this, the

Lord will come.

 

Anyone who has chanted for a longer period of time will know he will also

have to walk through the desert. "Oh no, there is a counting mistake here I

have chanted much more rounds than this." This is Krsna who disappears for

some time to make you cry for Him, to increase some taste, then we thirst

for bhakti. The blessing of bhakti which Krsna has pronounced, you will

never feel you have enough of bhakti. We always feel we want more and more

and more and more and more.

 

So Hare Krsna, I am sorry I was overenthusiastic and a little talkative.

Please forgive all the mistakes in this presentation. Please think about the

many points in this presentation.

 

Srila Prabhupada ki. . . jai!

Nitai-Gaura Premanandi. . . Hari, Haribol!

 

We are now overly late, so we will end without questions and answers.