How to become free from lust ???

November 6, 2003

The Queen Of Vrndavana

by Krsna das

— "I offer my respectful obeisances onto Srimati Radhika, whose complexion is like gold and who is the queen of Vrndavana. She is the daughter of Vrsabhanu Maharaja and is very dear to Sri Krishna."

When the Supreme Lord descended more than five thousands years ago, He did so not alone, but amongst His eternal associates, foremost of which was Srimati Radharani.

Srila Rupa Goswami has stated in the tenth verse of his "Sri Upadesamrta" that among all advanced devotees of the Lord, the gopis are foremost because they are always dependent upon Lord Krishna. Srila Prabhupada states in his purport to this verse that the gopis are foremost among all other devotees because they know nothing but the satisfaction of Krishna, neither do they expect anything in return for their service. Caitanya Caritamrta also states, "The desire to gratify one's own senses is kama or lust, but the desire to please the senses of Lord Krishna is prema or love." (Adi 4.165) Srila Rupa Goswami goes even further stating that among the gopis, Srimati Radharani is the dearest to Lord Krishna. Among the gopis, she is the only one who can fully satisfy Lord Krishna. In this regards, there is a verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam, the fruit of the Vedic desire tree that relates a conversation of the gopis conversing among themselves, "O my friend! Leaving us aside Krishna has gone off to a secluded place

Everyone is desirous for the mercy of the Supreme Lord; yet, the Supreme Lord is always seeking Srimati Radharani who gives Him pleasure. As stated in Caitanya Caritamrta, "She possesses all the attractiveness to attract the all-attractive Personality of Godhead" (Adi 4.83) Radha is Krishna's pleasure potency. As Krishna's pleasure potency, Srimati Radharani gives pleasure to the Lord and nourishes His devotees. (C.c. Adi 4.60)

Helping Her in pleasing the transcendental senses of the All-Attractive Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, are the confidantes of Sri Radha. Without them, the pastimes of Sri Radha and Krishna would be incomplete.

As in the case with fire and heat, wherein on cannot exist without the other, such is also the case with the Supreme Lord and His potency. Sri Caitanya Caritamrta states, "Radha is the full energy, and Lord Krishna is the possessor of full power. The two are not different as evinced by the revealed scripture." (Adi 4. 96)

Just as Lord Krishna is the fountainhead of all other incarnations of Godhead including Lord Narayana, similarly, Radha is the original goddess of fortune, from whom all other goddesses of fortune originate. Srila Krsnadas Kaviraja states in the Caitanya Caritamrta, "The goddesses of fortune are Her (Radha's) plenary portions" (Adi 4.78) All the goddesses of fortune reside in various Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual sky and thereby serve the Supreme Lord in His various expansions, similarly, Sri Radha serves Lord Krishna in the supermost spiritual abode, Goloka Vrndavana, a place where spontaneous love of God prevails over awe and reverence so predominant in the other Vaikuntha planets.

Love (of God) conquers all even the Supreme Lord, who is inaccessible by any other endeavors and such love (of God) is manifest fully in the person of Sri Radha. By pleasing the dearmost object to the Lord one can approach the Lord, but not otherwise. As the Lord tells His friend and devotee, Arjuna, "He who says he is My devotee is not My devotee, but He who is a devotee of My devotee I accept as My true devotee." (Agni Purana) By pleasing Radha, Krishna's compassionate side, one will receive her favor and thus she will approach Krishna in one's favor. Whomever she chooses Krishna will certainly have to accept.

In the transcendental arena of Sri Vrndavana, far from the eyes of those affected with the disease of lust, the divine couple, Sri Radha and Krishna, along with their innumerable associates engage in transcendental pastimes. By taking shelter of Sri Guru, who is the representative of Srimati Radharani and following his every instructions, one can become free of the lust so predominant in the material world, and secondly, one can attain the ultimate destination, service to the Divine Couple in the transcendental abode of Sri Vrndavana.

November 13, 2003

by Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja

Again RSabhadeva cautions us about this forbidden activity known as

vikarma. In zrImad-BhAgavatam (5.5.4) he advises his sons:

nUnaM pramattaH kurute vikarma

yad indriya-prItaya ApRNoti

na sAdhu manye yata Atmano'yam

asann api klezada Asa dehaH

"When a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he

certainly becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all

kinds of sinful activity. He does not know that due to his past

misdeeds he has already received a body which, although temporary is

the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not have

taken on a material body but he has been awarded the material body

for sense gratification. Therefore I think it is not befitting an

intelligent man to involve himself again in the activities of sense

gratification by which one perpetually gets material bodies one after

another."

The human life is meant for rendering service at the lotus feet of

the Supreme Lord KRSNa. It is for this reason that out of causeless

mercy the Lord gave us this opportunity of a human birth. This is not

possible in other species. RSabhadeva advised his sons accordingly in

zrImad-BhAgavatam (5.5.1)

nAyaM deho deha-bhAjAM nRloke

kaSTAn kAmAn arhate viD-bhujAM ye

tapo divyaM putrakA yena sattvaM

zuddhyed yasmAd brahma-saukhyaM tv anantam

"My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material

bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should

not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is

available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in

penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional

services. By such activity one's heart is purified and when one

attains this position, he attains eternal blissful life, which

transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever."

The only way to overcome lust is sat-saGga, association with a sAdhu

by hearing KRSNa-katha, topics of Lord KRSNa from his lips. The true

devotees of the Lord have completely surrendered themselves at the

lotus feet of Lord KRSNa. In this context zrImad-BhAgavatam (4.22.39)

says:

yat-pAda-paGkaja-palAza-vilAsa-bhaktyA

karmAzayaM grathitam udgrathayanti santaH

tadvan na rikta-matayo yatayo 'pi ruddha-

sroto-gaNAs tam araNaM bhaja vAsudevam

"The devotees who are always engaged in the service of the toes of

the lotus feet of the Lord, can very easily overcome hard-knotted

desires for fruitive activities. Because this is very difficult, the

non-devotees—the jJAnis and yogIs, although trying to stop the

waves of sense gratification, cannot do so. Therefore you are advised

to engage in the devotional service of KRSNa, the Son of

Vasudeva."

November 13, 2003

The hearts of premI-bhaktas are the resting place of the Lord. By the

mercy of such VaiSNavas who are the outward manifestation of the

Lord, bhagavad-darzana is possible. Although the Lord is known as

ajita—unconquerable, still He is conquered by His dear devotees

who are known as ajita-jita. In zrImad-BhAgavatam it is said:

visRjati hRdayaM na yasya sAkSAd

dharir avazAbhihito `py aghaugha-nAzaH

praNaya-rasanayA dhRtAGghri-padmaH

sa bhavati bhAgavata-pradhAna uktaH

"Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who destroys everything

inauspicious for His devotees, does not leave the hearts of His

devotees even if they remember Him and chant about Him inattentively.

This is because the rope of love always binds the Lord within the

devotees' hearts. Such a devotee can never give up the association of

the Lord, nor can the Lord give up his association. KRSNa Himself

dwells eternally within his heart. Such a great soul is known as

bhAgavata-pradhAna—the most exalted devotee of the Lord."

(BhAg. 11.2.55)

'sadA mukto `pi baddho 'smi

bhaktena sneha rajyubhiH

ajito pi jito ahaM

tairavasyo `pi vazI kRtaM

"Though I am supremely independent, I am bound by My devotee's

love." (Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya)

Such dear devotees of the Lord who are known as nirmatsara-sAdhu—

sAdhus without envy, are the true well-wishers of the living

entities. KRSNa-kathA is their only heart and soul. They have no

other thoughts. They have bound up KRSNa in their heart and KRSNa is

unable to leave their heart because of pure love. They can give KRSNa

to everyone.

kRSNa se tomAra, kRSNa dite pAra

tomAra zakati Ache

Ami ta' kaGgala, `kRSNa kRSNa' bali'

dhAi tava pAche pAche

zrIla VyAsadeva, the literary incarnation of the Supreme Lord KRSNa

has compiled zrImad-BhAgavatam in which he has described the

transcendental activities of the Lord and His dear devotees. This

transcendental literature always speaks uncompromising truth. To

understand the Absolute we must have to surrender ourselves at the

lotus feet of the dear devotees of the Lord. They are called parama

nirmatsarANAM satAM vedyam. Those persons who are free from

envy—true VaiSNavas, they can understand this literature, which

speaks of Supreme Truth Lord KRSNa. Not only that, they can make

others understand also. Thus it is said:

jAha bhAgavata pada vaiSNavera sthAne

ekanta Azraya kara caitanya-caraNe

(CC‚ Antya 5.131)

"Go and approach a bona fide VaiSNava to study zrImad-BhAgavatam and

in this way completely surrender to the lotus feet of zrI Caitanya."

In conclusion, in this dreadful age of Kali, the only way to win over

lust and easily achieve the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord is to take

shelter of the holy name of the Lord:

hare kRSNa hare kRSNa kRSNa kRSNa hare hare

hare rAma hare rAma rAma rAma hare hare

We hope this will quench the thirst of the inquisitive aspirant souls

to some extent.

Begging dust of the lotus feet of the VaiSNavas,

Your servant of the servant of the servant

Gour Govinda Swami

November 15, 2003

LIQUID BEAUTY

Why is the attraction between male and female so powerful?What is the essesence of this attraction?

And why does the Vedic Literature call it Illusion?

A lecture given in Montreal by HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C.BHAKTIVADANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADA

isavasyam idam sarvarti yat kinca jagatyam jagat tena tyaktena bhunjitha md grdhah kasya svid dhanam "Everything animate and inanimate within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong." (Isopanisad,1) Everything belongs to Krsna. That is the verdict of the Isopanisad. For example, this land of America is now divided, but to whom did it originally belong? It belonged to Krsna. You have come here and divided Krsna's property and declared, "This is Canada, this is the United States, this is South America." In this way you are claiming proprietorship. But are you really the proprietor? No. You have encroached upon another's property, so you are all thieves. Actually, this is the position of anyone who daims to own something in this material world. This is illusion: janasya moho yam aham 'nameti. Aham mameti means "I and mine." In other words, when one thinks, "This body is me, and everything in relationship to this body is mine," he is a thief, and he is in illusion.

Now, what does one consider "mine"? His wife, his children, his home, his country. why? Because he has a bodily relationship with these things. The original illusion is to think, "I am this body," and then all these illusory, false relationships develop. The Srimad-Bhagavatam explains that this illusion develops because we are in the kingdom of maya, Krsna's illusory potency, and she is attracting us. What is that attractive force? For man that attractive force is woman; and for woman, man. The whole world is going on because of this sex attraction. Not only in human society but also in dog society, cat society, hog society, bird society-everywhere the female is attractive for the male, and the male is attractive for the female. This is illusion. To get out of this illusion, we must be trained in how to counteract sex attraction. That is why from a young age, brahama-carya [celibacy] training is given so that one can know that a woman's body is not actually attractive, What is attractive about it? It is simply made of flesh and blood. Similarly, if a woman analyzes a man's body, what is there to be attracted to? Flesh and blood? Is flesh and blood very attractive? In this connection there is a nice story about how one young girl kept her beauty in a pot. Once there was a very beautiful girl, and a rich boy was after her. The girl was married, but she was not very rich. So the boy was always proposing to her that they enjoy sex life, and she became perplexed: "He's a rich man. If I don't agree, he may do some harm to my husband or to me." So she made a plan. The next time the boy approached her she said, "All right, I agree to your proposal. You come to my house in one week and I'll engage with you." Oh, he was very excited. In the meantime the girl took some strong emetics and purgatives, and for seven days she simply purged out all her beauty by vomiting and passing stool. Then she kept those vomits and stools in two pots. Now, if you pass stool for even one day your features become ugly. And she passed stool and vomit for seven days, so naturally she became very ugly. When the boy came to her, she was sitting at the door. He asked, "Where is that beautiful girl who was living here?" She said, "Yes, I am she. No, you're not. She is so beautiful, and you are so ugly.No, I am the same girl.Why have you become so ugly?Because I have extracted my beauty.Where is it?In these two pots. Just see. If you like,

you can now enjoy my beauty." Actually, if we dissect our body we will find stool, urine, intestines, brains, muscle , blood, and so on. But because that stool, urine, muscle, brains, and intestines , are so nicely decorated, the body can atract you. This is maya. This business is going on all over the world. In this country I see that the girls are attracting the boys by their features in so many ways. And similarly the boys are attracting the girls by so many features,especially by nice motorcars. And as soon as a boy and girl are actually attracted and joined together in sex, the illusion becomes doubly knotted (tayor mitho hrdaya-granthim ahuh). The word (hrdaya-grathim means "the tight knot of attraction within the heart." So, when the knot of material attraction becomes tightened through sex, the boy and girl want a house (grha) and some land (ksetra). Of course, nowadays every-one is seeking employment, but formerly there was no industry, no big business, and so everyone had to produce his own foodstuffs ,out of the field (ksetra). If you become a family man, you must have some source of income, and the original source of income is the land. If you can utilize the land, then all your necessities will be provided. As I mentioned before, this American land was lying vacant, but after the Europeans took possession of it they exploited its resources. So, everything was originally in the land. Now, after acquiring some land or some employment, one naturally wants children (suta). As soon as a boy and girl are married, they generally desire to have a child. At least the girl wants one, although now the process is different. But girls generally want a child. That is natural Then comes apta, relatives, and finally vittaih, wealth. One needs some bank balance. In this way one goes on increasing his illusion more and more. But nobody is thinking, "Why am I increasing my illusion? I am so busy getting the requirements of the body, but lam not the body. I am a soul. What are the requirements of the soul?" People have forgotten their real interest and are absorbed in satisfying their superficial interests. But if you simply wash your shirt and coat and do not feed your body, how long can you exist? My Guru Maharaja [srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura] used to give a similar example: A man was drowning, and another man came to save him. So the second man jumped into the water, but when he came out he brought only the drowning man's shirt and coat. Yet the second man thought, "Now I have saved him." The mistake of modern civilization is that people are simply concerned with the "shirt and coat"-the body. There are many hospitals to cure bodily diseases,but there is no hospital to cure the disease of the soul. This Krsna consciousness movement is for curing the disease of the soul. Every soul, every person, is mistakenly accepting his body or his mind as himself.But the Srimad-Bhagavatam says, yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke . . . sa eva gokharah: "Anyone who accepts his body as his self is like an ass or a cow." The bodily concept of life is therefore a gross misconception. In the beginning of the Bhagavad-gita,Arjuna identified himself with his body. He was thinking, "This person is my grandfather, this one is my spiritual master, this one is my nephew," and so on. So Arjuna was unwilling to fight against them. He was perplexed about his duty. And when he was unable to find a solution to his

problems, he surrendered to Krsna: sisyas te' ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam. "I surrender unto You as Your disciple. Please save me from this perplexity." Then Krsna immediately chided him. The spiritual master has the right to chide his disciple, so because Arjuna accepted Krsna as his spiritual master, the Lord immediately chided him: asocyan anvasocas tvam prajnavadams ca bhasase."My dear Arjuna, you are talking just like a very learned man, but you are fool number one." Of course, Krsna did not directly say "fool number one," but He said that no learned man speaks as Arjuna was speaking. Before Arjuna accepted Krsna as his spiritual master, Arjuna was saying, "If I kill my family members, the women will become polluted and there will be unwanted children. And as soon as this world is full of unwanted children, it will be hell. "This is fact. The world has now become a hell due to unwanted children. Arjuna was speaking just like an ordinary gentleman, but when Krsna took up His role as Arjuna's spiritual master, the Lord said, "Arjuna, you are hovering on the material plane. That is not very learned. The wise man understands everything from the spiritual platform. He doesn't lament over the body, whether living or dead." So the body is not very important; the spirit is important. But nobody is discussing spirit. All the educational centers and universities are busy studying chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and at most a little philosophy.But this philosophy is simply mental speculation. Somebody gives some theory, and another philosopher gives some conflicting theory, but nobody is discussing the eternal spirit soul. That is the defect of the modern civilization. It is a very hard task for us to convince people about these facts. But they are true whether people accept them or not. It is simply their misfortune if they do not accept. The fact is that, as Lord Krsna says, mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah.: All living entities are part and parcel of Krsna. Then what is our duty? Consider this example: The hand is part and parcel of the body, and so the duty of the hand is to serve the whole body. That's all. The hand has no other duty.

It cannot eat on its own account; it cannot do anything on its own account. When the hand takes direction from the whole, from me, then it works very nicely. In the same way, my leg and tongue and all other organs are servants of the body as a whole. Similarly, as Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, jivera svarupa haya krsnera nitya-dasa: "Every living entity is the eternal servant of Krsna." Krsna is the supreme controller, so it is the duty of everyone to serve Him. That is natural. Any other position is diseased. In other words, whoever is not acting in Krsna consciousness is diseased. The treatment for this diseased condition is chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna , Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.This chanting will cure the material disease just as a certain material mantra can cure a man bitten by a serpent. I do not know whether you have seen this, but in India there are experts who, simply by chanting a mantra, can revive the consciousness of a , man bitten by a serpent. Similarly, we have been bitten by the serpent of maya, illusion, and the Hare Krsna mantra will restore our consciousness to its natural state----Krsna consciousness. Thank you very much

November 17, 2003

Chant "Govinda! Govinda! Govinda!" Chant "Radha-Govinda!" Now that the waters of the spiritual master's mercy have put out the fire of your worldly existence, chant "Radha-Govinda!" With a sincere and honest heart, intently chant "Radha-Govinda!"

(Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura)

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare