GOPAL AND THE SCHOOLBOY PART TWO

[Guest guest]

(Continued from before)

Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja

 

The following article appeared in issue number 68 of Sri Krishna

Kathamrita Bindu, the free fortnightly email magazine from ISKCON Gopal Jiu

Publications.

 

 

Everything takes place according to the will of Krishna. If He doesn’t

will, a blade of grass will not shake. So it is a question of faith. But why

do we lack faith? Dhruva immediately put strong faith. He was not afraid of

any situation. “Where is that Narayan? Where is Narayan!” The example is

also there in the story about the young boy and Gopal. But we can’t put

faith. What is the reason? Why are these small children able to have faith,

but adults cannot? It is because you are crooked and they are simple. A

child is very simple, but as soon as he grows up and associates with adults,

those who are very crooked, he develops crookedness. Otherwise, in the

beginning a child is very simple. Simplicity is vaisnavism. All our acaryas

have said this. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami stresses on this;

saralata hi vaisnavata — simplicity is vaisnavism. Real vaisnavas are as

simple as a child. There is no question of crookedness, duplicity, or

pretentiousness in them. But our heart is full of these things. We are not

at all simple-hearted persons. We are very crooked. Duplicity, crookedness,

and pretentiousness are in you. But Krishna is in your heart. He knows what

is in you; you cannot cheat Him. Therefore we say that sadhu-guru-mahajana

are patita-pavana, not kapatya-pavana — they are the saviors of the fallen,

not saviors of the crooked.

 

Some persons say, “Shall I just have blind faith? Shall I not think

anything? Shall I not apply my intelligence, my deliberation? Should I just

put blind faith in whatever sadhu and sastra say?” They say, “We have our

own intelligence. We must think very seriously before we can accept.”

 

How can you deliberate on what Krishna says, what sastra says, what the

mahajanas say? They have no defects. You are a conditioned soul with four

defects: bhrama (the tendency to commit mistakes), pramada (the tendency to

be illusioned), vipralipsa (the tendency to cheat) and karanapatava

(imperfect senses). Your senses are defective. The thoughts in your mind are

defective. What you perceive through your senses is defective.

 

“THERE IS NO SADHU PRESENT”

 

You say, “Oh! We have been cheated so many times. Now we won’t put faith

in anyone. No sadhus are there. We don’t see any sadhu.”

 

Can you see a sadhu? Do you have the vision to see a sadhu? You are a

conditioned soul. You have defective vision. How can you see a sadhu? You

have developed this motto, “Seeing is believing.” You say, “If I see then I

will believe. Can you show me? Can you show me the Lord? Then I will

believe.”

 

But you are not prepared to admit that you are blind. You have no vision

to see the Lord. Even if I show you the Lord, how can you see without

vision? You are not prepared to admit your shortcoming. You are such a

crooked, pretentious, duplicitous person. You are always trying to hide your

defects. You are not prepared to admit them. This is proof that you are not

at all simple. You are a crooked person. Be simple! If you just once say

with an open heart, “Krishna I am Yours!” then immediately Krishna will

accept you. He is there in your heart, but you can’t cry out to Him. Your

heart is filled with such filth, such duplicity and crookedness. You are

never simple. And Krishna knows it.

 

This is the reason why you cannot develop strong faith. Now you want to

see sadhu. You say, “We don’t see any sadhus. There are no sadhus.”

 

If there is no sadhu then how are things going on? This is Kali-yuga,

the most sinful and degraded age. Still there is ekapad-dharma, one-legged

religion, therefore things are continuing. Otherwise everything would have

been finished, destroyed. In Satya-yuga dharma had four legs. In Treta-yuga

three legs were there. In Dvapara-yuga two legs were there, and in Kali-yuga

there is one leg. Because this one leg of dharma is present, things are

going on and we are all here.

 

The holy name came — this is the yuga-dharma for Kali-yuga. But we have

no faith, no belief in it. We are such crooked persons. We have no

simplicity. We only speak with the lips while something else is in the

heart. This simplicity is vaisnavism. It is the only thing required. Make

your heart simple. Drive out, throw out all this filth; crookedness,

duplicity, and pretentiousness, and immediately you will get Krishna.

 

Krishna emphasizes this sraddha in many places in the Gita: Chapter

four, text 39 states: sraddhaval labhate jnanam — “A faithful person quickly

obtains transcendental knowledge.” In chapter nine, text three, Krishna

states: asraddadhanah purusa aprapya mam nivartante mrtyu-samsara-vartmani —

“Those who have no sraddha, no faith, cannot approach Me. Again and again

they will fall down here to this mrtyu-samsara, world of death.”

 

SADHUS HAVE NO DEFECTS

 

Those who have vision, they see and they say, arya-vijna-vakya nahi dosa

catustaya — the words of the mahajanas, sadhus, are free from the four

defects. Why don’t you put unflinching faith in their words? You say, “I

must think about it first. I must deliberate on what they say. If I am

convinced then I will apply it.” — This is all duplicity, crookedness, lack

of faith! You are not prepared to admit that you have four defects. Your

senses are defective, how can you see? You think, “I am the seer. I will

see.” But you are not the seer. You have defective vision. How can you see a

sadhu who is free from defects and exists on the transcendental platform? He

is in the fourth dimension. You are limited to three dimensions: length,

breadth and height. Can your material mind conceive the fourth dimension?

Then how can you say, “If I see, only then I will accept?” Nonsense! Such

nonsense! You can only act on faith. Nothing else.

 

In the story I told [see last issue], the mother instructed and the

child put faith in her words. The mother is authority and the child is

simple. Sadhu, mahajana, and sastra, are authority. But you have no faith in

them. How can you get Krishna? Faith is the most important thing. Even if

you put blind faith, still you will be delivered because sadhu-mahajanas are

free from defects, what they say is real truth — mahajana yei kahe, sei

satya mani (Cc. madhya 25.56). Suppose you put blind faith in sadhu’s words

and you go to hell; then sadhu-mahajana will go to hell to deliver you. But

by your manipulations, politics, and duplicity, even if you elevate yourself

to the position of Brahmaloka, Satyaloka, still you will fall from there and

you cannot be delivered by sadhu-mahajana. You should understand that.

 

One who is very simple, immediately puts strong unflinching faith,

immediately surrenders, and immediately is accepted by Krishna. That is what

is needed. Simplicity is vaisnavism, but we are lacking that thing.

 

You should take example from mahajanas like Rupa and Sanatan Goswami.

How simple they are! Once a very puffed-up, proud pandita came to see them.

He was travelling everywhere, challenging and trying to defeat others. That

pandita came to Sanatan Goswami and Rupa Goswami and said, “You debate with

me. If I am victorious then you will sign a certificate of defeat and if you

defeat me then I will sign a certificate that you have defeated me.” Rupa

and Sanatan immediately said, “No, we will give you a certificate. Please

go, dandavats. Yes, we are defeated. You are victorious.” This is

simplicity.

 

JADA BHARAT AND THE DACOITS

 

Jada Bharat was also simple in this way. A group of dacoits were

searching for a nice human being to sacrifice so that Kali would be pleased

and they could get a benediction from her. They found Jada Bharat sitting in

a cornfield. He was very strong, stout, and good-looking. They thought he

would be very nice for sacrifice. Jada Bharat was like a madman — dumb and

callous like an animal. Just like the butcher taking an animal to the

slaughterhouse, the dacoits took him to be sacrificed. Jada Bharat went with

no protest, just like a simple child. He was such an elevated paramahamsa.

The dacoits bathed him and put new clothes on him. They put vermilion on his

forehead. Then they asked him, “Please bow down here.” Like a simple child

he did what they said. Then they raised a sword to cut off his head.

 

Kali is vaisnavi, a maidservant of Krishna. Seeing their activity, she

said, “What are these rascal dacoits doing?” Kali suddenly came out from

deity with a sword in her hand and chopped off the heads of those dacoits

and Jada Bharat was saved.

 

Nevertheless, you are thinking, “Shall I put faith blindly? Shall I not

think about it? Shall I not deliberate on it?” You are saying like that

because you have no faith. Because duplicity and crookedness is there in

your heart. You are not simple.

 

One who is very simple is really surrendered. He is a real sadhu, and he

is protected. This simplicity is lacking in you. You think, “I will see.”

But you are not the seer. Krishna is the seer; sadhu is the seer. You are to

be seen. But you are thinking just the opposite, “I will be the seer and the

sadhu will be seen.” What is this nonsense? They are the seer; Krishna is

the seer, sadhu is the seer. You have to be seen. When they cast their

merciful glance on you, then your good fortune arises. You become fortunate,

subhagya. But you are thinking, “I am the seer.” Just the opposite. That’s

the whole problem, nothing else.

 

QUESTIONS:

 

Devotee: How can someone develop simplicity?

 

Gour Govinda Swami: Associate with a simple sadhu. As I described my

guru-maharaja, how he came and inculcated faith. And why are you lacking

faith now? Because you are not associating with sadhus! You say, “We cannot

see sadhu. There are no sadhus present now.” That’s the whole trouble with

you.

 

Devotee: But if we are duplicitous in the heart, then we will be blind

and we won't be able to see who is a sadhu. So how can we associate with

sadhus if we don’t know who is a sadhu?

 

Gour Govinda Swami: Therefore I say, even if sadhu comes, because you

are blind you have no faith in him. You want to be the seer, so you cannot

get any benefit. You cannot associate. If a sadhu comes and chants here,

speaks krsna-katha, it will never enter your ear. You cannot get any

benefit. You don’t do sadhu-sanga at all. Although you come and sit here,

you are just posing, you are just pretending. You are such a pretender!

Because you have no faith, the sadhu’s katha will never enter your ear.

Thus, you cannot get any benefit. Just pretending. Sitting for ten or

fifteen minutes, then getting up and going out. Why is this? Because you

have no faith. You are not simple. You want to be the seer. But you are not

the seer. That’s the whole trouble.

 

Devotee: To have this simplicity and faith one should think as a child.

If we have some intelligence that if we get this or that. . . .

 

Gour Govinda Swami: What intelligence do you have? It’s impure

intelligence, not pure intelligence.

 

Devotee: So I should just give it up?

 

Gour Govinda Swami: Yes! Give up everything! Just throw it out! Throw it

out! Make your heart clean and open. Jesus Christ said, “Empty thyself. I

will fill thee.” But you are not emptying. Your heart is full to the brim

with crookedness, duplicity, and enviousness — all nasty things. How can he

fill you? There is no space. Empty yourself. Throw it out! Then you will

get. ·

 

-- From an evening program in Lansing, Michigan, USA, 28 October 1991

 

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