How do you get Krsna's darsana ???

[krsna]

 

 

<font color="blue"> "Krsna's darsana can only be attained through the medium of the ear as one hears Hari-katha from pure Vaisnavas, there is no other way." </font color>

 

The Upadesavali of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada

[krsna]

 

 

 

"COME TO MY ETERNAL PLACE"

 

Lord Krishna wants us to give up our rebelliousness and return to Him for a life of perfect happiness.

 

by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

 

avyakto ’yam acintyo ’yam

avikaryo ’yam ucyate

tasmad evam viditvainam

nanushocitum arhasi

 

“It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable, and immutable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body.” —Bhagavad-gita 2.25

 

 

In so many ways Krishna is convincing Arjuna that the spirit soul is immortal. Avyakto ’yam: It is not manifest to the blunt material eyes. We cannot see it, because the magnitude of the soul is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Very small. Smaller than the atom.

 

That spirit soul is everywhere. Sarva-gatah. And wherever the spirit soul lives within the material world, he has a body and a heart, and within that heart Krishna is also there. Ishvarah sarva-bhutanam hrid-deshe ’rjuna tishthati. Both of them—the soul and Krishna—are living there. Therefore, anor aniyan mahato mahiyan: Krishna can become greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest. That is God.

 

When Krishna was playing as a child, He ate earth, and His playmates complained to mother Yashoda, “Mother, your son Krishna is eating earth.”

 

Mother Yashoda asked for an explanation: “Krishna, why are You eating earth? I have given You sandesha [a sweet].”

 

Krishna said, “No, Mother, I have not eaten earth.”

 

“No, Your friends are complaining.”

 

“No, they have become My enemies this morning. We had some quarrel. Therefore they have combined so that you will chastise Me.”

 

Mother Yashoda wanted to solve the problem.

 

“All right, show me Your mouth. Open Your mouth. I want to see.”

 

When Krishna opened His mouth, His mother saw innumerable universes inside.

This is Krishna. Anor aniyan mahato mahiyan. Krishna enters within the universe, but at the same time millions of universes are within His mouth. This is the explanation of “greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest.” Of course, although mother Yashoda saw Krishna’s display, she could not believe it, because she never thought that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She always thought, “He is my tiny child.” That’s all. “I have to take care of Him.” These are called parental feelings, vatsalya-rasa.

 

MOODS OF SERVICE

 

Krishna is served by devotees in many rasas—transcendental mellows or humors. Someone is serving as His servant. Someone is serving as His friend. Someone is serving as His father and mother. Someone is serving as His conjugal lover. These are the five primary mellows in which a devotee is connected with Krishna.

 

There are seven other rasas. They are secondary. For example, somebody is serving Krishna as an enemy, like the asuras, the demons. They also serve Krishna, but as His enemy. Somebody serves by giving pleasure to Krishna, another by fighting with Him.

 

So there are twelve rasas. Akhila-rasamrita-sindhu—all the rasas we

experience within this world come from Krishna. Janmadyasya yatah. The Vedanta-sutra says that everything within our experience is in Krishna. That is Krishna. He was stealing, which we generally consider not very good business. But stealing is also in Krishna. He’s famous as Makhana-chora, the stealer of butter.

 

All our dealings in the material world are only a perverted reflection of our dealings with Krishna in the spiritual world. But the impersonalists, unaware of the spiritual world, have no information that Krishna is always busy. Because He’s a person, He’s always busy. He wants to please the gopijanas — the cowherd boys and the gopis, His constant companions.

 

Krishna is sanatana, eternal, and His dealings with His devotees are also sanatana. And these dealings are possible not here but in the sanatana-dhama, the eternal world. We cannot have sanatana dealings with Krishna in the material world. Therefore Krishna comes to canvass the conditioned souls: “For eternal happiness, for eternal dealings, come to Me in My eternal place.” Yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama.

 

Why not in the material world? By nature the material world is not permanent; it is temporary. Janmadi. Everything in the material world has a date of birth, and anything which has a date of birth must have a date of death also. That is the nature of the material world.

 

Here we can practice sanatana-dharma, the eternal occupation, but sanatana-dharma is actually performed in the spiritual world. In business one is trained to become an apprentice and then he’s given a post. Similarly, Sanatana Goswami explains, devotees who are perfectly trained in devotional service are first of all given birth in the universe where Krishna is present.

 

KRISHNA EVERYWHERE

 

Of course, Krishna is always present everywhere, just as the sun is always present in the sky. When the sun sets, it is not within my vision, but the sun is still in the sky. Similarly, Krishna is always present. We have to make our eyes fit to see Him. How? Lord Brahma explains:

 

premanjana-cchurita-bhakti vilocanena

santah sadaiva hridayeshu vilokayanti

yam shyamasundaram acintya-guna-svarupam

govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami

 

Only the devotees who have loving affection for Krishna can see Him. The propensity to love Krishna is there already. But we have transferred that loving propensity to maya, illusion. The whole process of Krishna consciousness is to transfer the loving propensity from maya back to Krishna. This is the simple definition of Krishna consciousness. We have love for Krishna, but being illusioned, being falsely positioned, we are trying to love something which is not Krishna — maya, Krishna’s maya, or illusion.

 

Krishna says, mama maya: “maya is also Mine.” For example, the cloud is made by the sun. The sun evaporates water from the ocean, and the water becomes a cloud. The business of the cloud is to cover our eyes from seeing the sun, but actually the cloud has no separate existence, and as soon as the sun is bright, the cloud disappears. Bhutva bhutva praliyate: The cloud comes into existence, and again it disappears. Similarly, maya, illusion, is only sometimes generated. The material world is impermanent. It comes and goes. maya simply covers our eyes. But although the cloud can cover my eyesight, it cannot cover the sun. Similarly maya cannot touch Krishna. The mayavada philosophy says that when Krishna comes here He comes covered by maya. No. This is not correct. Maya cannot touch Krishna. When Vyasadeva realized Krishna before writing the Srimad-Bhagavatam, he saw Krishna and maya. Maya was in the background. Maya cannot come in front of Krishna. So Krishna is never covered by maya. It is our eyes which are covered by maya.

 

So we, the fragments of Krishna, are covered by maya, but Krishna is not. The theory that Krishna becomes covered is nonsense. Krishna is the controller of maya. And we are controlled by maya. That is the difference. Krishna is maya-dhisha, the controller of maya, and we are mayadhina, controlled by maya.

 

TRANSCENDING MAYA

Yet we can become free. When an airplane goes above the clouds, you have immense sunlight. The clouds are below. Similarly, you can go above maya. You can transcend maya and see Krishna always. That is possible. How? Mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te: Simply surrender to Krishna, and Krishna will arrange that you are no longer under maya. Simple process. Just do as Krishna demands—sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja: “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.” This is sanatana-dharma.

 

We are, after all, servants of Krishna, but artificially we are trying to become masters of the material world. We are therefore sent here. Just as those who are revolutionary, who do not care for state laws, are sometimes killed or put into the prisonhouse, those who are not voluntarily surrendering to Krishna are put into the prisonhouse of the material world. They are forced to surrender.

 

And when you falsely think you have become free—“I have now become liberated. I have become God”—you fall into the last snare of maya. How can you become God? What capacity do you have? God has created so many things. What have you created? God has shown so many things. What have you done?

 

Still, people falsely think, “I am God.” This is the last snare of maya. Everyone is trying to lord it over material nature. We think, “I want to become a cabinet minister.” “I want to become president.” “I want to become a business magnate.” And when everything fails, we want to become God. That is also maya. It is not possible to become God.

 

Our relationship with God, Krishna, is that we are meant to serve Him. But we have forgotten our real position, our sanatana-dharma. Sanatana-dharma means that the living entity is a part of the whole and is therefore meant to serve the whole. Because my finger is part of my body, its business is to carry out my order, to serve the whole body. If I want my finger to come to my head, it comes at once. Similarly, our business is to serve Krishna. But when we want to become lord, independent of Krishna, we place ourselves in maya. The Prema-vivarta states, Krishna-bahirmukha hana bhoga-vancha kare/ nikata-stha maya tare japatiya dhare: “When the living entity wants to enjoy material nature, he is immediately victimized by the material nature.” As soon as we desire to imitate Krishna, that is maya. We create the situation of maya. “I want to become Krishna. I want to become God. I want to become the Lord.” This is maya.

Krishna is sanatana, eternal. We are also sanatana, but when we forget to serve Krishna, we serve temporary things. And when we engage again in the service of Krishna, we return to our sanatana-dharma, eternally serving Krishna.

 

OUR DHARMA

 

Dharma means “characteristic.” You cannot change dharma. The characteristic of sugar is sweetness, and the characteristic of chili is pungency. Everything has its characteristic. That is called its dharma. You purchase chili, and if it is not very pungent you throw it away—“Oh, it is not good”—because the dharma of the chili is lacking. Similarly, if you take sugar and find it salty, then you say, “Oh, what is this?”

 

So everything has some characteristic, and we as living entities have our characteristic. We are sanatana, eternal. Our characteristic is to serve God. If I don’t serve God, then the characteristic will remain and I’ll have to serve maya, thinking in illusion that I have become master. For example, a man has a motorcar. To purchase a motorcar and maintain it requires lots of money, and to get this money he has to work very hard. But then he thinks, “Now I have a motorcar. Very nice.” Still, he is serving the motorcar, that’s all.

 

This is the position. One is actually servant, not master, but he thinks that he’s master. This is maya. When we give up the falsely prestigious claim that we are master, then we are liberated.

 

Now we are struggling hard within the material world under the influence of maya, changing between different bodies. Sometimes I go to the heavenly planets, sometimes to the hellish planets. Sometimes I am a rich man, sometimes a poor man, a brahmana, a shudra, a tiger, a tree. In this way, everywhere within the universe the living entities are struggling for existence. Krishna says:

 

mamaivamso jiva-loke

jiva-bhutah sanatanah

manah-shashthanindriyani

prakriti-sthani karshati

 

“All living entities are My parts and parcels, but foolishly, carried by mental concoction within the material world, they are struggling to become master.”

 

This is the disease. The rascals are pulled by the ear by prakriti, material nature. Material nature dictates, “Do this,” and I have to do it. To one who has associated with the mode of ignorance, prakriti gives the body of a hog. Then prakriti tells him, “Come here. Eat the stool.” And he eats. “Oh, so nice.” This is maya. Is stool a very nice thing? But prakriti has given the hog a certain type of body, and he is relishing, “Oh, stool is so nice.”

 

In the human form of body also, people are eating so many nonsense things in the restaurants, in the hotels. And they’re relishing, “Oh, it is so nice.” This is maya.

 

Our business is to serve, but because we take the attitude “I don’t like to serve Krishna” or “I am Krishna,” we are placed under the clutches of maya—immediately. And under the illusion of maya, we associate with the different modes of material nature, and so we have to take birth. Sad-asad-yoni-janmasu. One becomes a hog, one becomes a dog, one becomes a human being, a demigod, a tree, a plant—8,400,000 species and forms of life. Krishna says, sarva-yonishu kaunteya . . . aham bija-pradah pita: “Of all these forms—whatever they may be—I am the father.”

 

So if Krishna is the original father of every living entity, how has one become a brahmana, one a shudra, one a tree, one a tiger, a hog, an Indra, a Brahma? How is that?

 

We get our births in different types of body because we associate with different modes of nature. My mind carries me to the next body. It is foolish to say, “This man is now dead. Everything is finished.” That is rascaldom. He is not finished. His life is going on.

 

Foolish rascals say, “Now this man is dead, finished.” Big, big professors say, “Swamiji, after death everything is finished.” And they’re professors. Just see. Rascals and fools are becoming leaders, professors, politicians. How will the people be happy when they are always led into ignorance and enamored by the external feature of Krishna’s energy?

 

KRISHNA'S TWO ENERGIES

 

The material world is also Krishna’s energy. But we are attracted by the material energy when we should be attracted by the spiritual. As explained in the Bhagavad-gita, both energies are Krishna’s: apara (inferior) energy and para (superior) energy. But we are now attracted by the material elements of the apara energy: bhumir apo ’nalo vayuh—earth, water, fire, air. And because we are attracted by the material energy, when we construct a very nice stone house we think, “Now, yes, my life is successful. I have a very nice house of stone.” Am I stone? No. Still, my attraction is for the stone. Therefore Krishna gives me facility: “All right, take the stone and try to be happy. But you’ll never be happy. You’ll be happy when you surrender to Me.”

 

For example, a father gives his child all facilities to play, but at the same time the father says, “My dear child, don’t play like this. It is not good.” But because the child persists, the father sometimes says, “All right, you play like that.” Similarly, Krishna does not want us to come to the material world and be attracted by earth, water, air, fire, and sky and become great scientists and make combinations of these five elements. What is this world? Tejo-vari-mridam yatha vinimayo yatra tri-sargo ’mrisha: This world is a mixture of fire, earth, water, air, and sky. It is a false thing.

 

As this world is a combination of these five elements, our body is also a combination of these same five elements, and we are attracted to it. “Oh, I have such a nice, strong, beautiful body—American body, Indian body, brahmana body, this body, that body.” All maya. You’ll never be happy by this bodily concept of life.

 

Krishna indirectly explains this point when He says, acchedyo ’yam adahyo ’yam akledyo ’shoshya eva ca: “The individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried.” Since the body is burned to ashes, how can we be the body? When a man is dead, the body is put into the fire and burned. Then how are we the body?

 

The body is made of three elements: bile, mucus, and air. It is a bag of bones and flesh and blood. If one thinks, “I am this body,” then he is go-kharah—a cow or an ass. Anyone in the bodily concept of life is an animal. And how can you receive knowledge from a person who is an animal? You cannot get any knowledge from the cows or asses.

 

To speak frankly, practically everyone is in the bodily concept of life. Therefore the modern civilization is an animal civilization, not a human civilization. Human civilization begins when one understands, “I am not this body. I am spirit soul—aham brahmasmi.” As long as people are under the bodily concept of life, theirs is a civilization of cats and dogs, that’s all.

 

Thank you very much.

[krsna]

 

 

APPROACH A PREMI BHAKTA

 

Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja

 

Who is a real sadhu? A real sadhu is completely surrendered unto Krishna. He has no other desire than to serve Krishna with pure love, twenty-four hours, day and night,anukulyena krsnanu-silanam. One who has gotten prema-bhakti, who has gotten Krishna, is a real sadhu. One should accept such a sadhu, then he can approach Krishna.

 

One cannot approach directly. Caitanya-caritamrita(madhya 19.151) states:

 

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyava;n jiva guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata bija

 

This is Mahaprabhu’s teaching to Sanatan Goswami: After undergoing lakhs and lakhs of species of life, through lakhs and lakhs of universes, if someone is bhagyavan, fortunate, he gets the mercy of Krishna and guru, and the seed of bhakti is sown in his heart.

 

This word bhagyavan, fortunate, is significant. What is genuine good fortune?That person who meets guru, the bona-fide representative of Krishna, is fortunate. Only one who has gotten Krishna, who has bound up Krishna in his heart, only he can make Krishna appear in the heart of his devoted disciple. No one else can give you Krishna. If someone has not gotten, how can he give? If you have one dollar, you can give fifty cents, sixty cents or one dollar. But if you don’t have, then how can you give?

 

Similarly, we should approach someone who has obtained Krishna, who has developed prema-bhakti and has bound up Krishna in his heart. Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode has written (Saranagati,Bhajana-lalasa, song 7):

 

krsna se tomara, krsna dite para tomara sakati ache

ami to’ kangala, krsna krsna bali’,dhai tava pache pache

 

O vaisnava thakura, Krishna belongs to you because you have bound Him up in your heart by the rope of prema. Only you can give me Krishna because you have gotten Him. I am kangala, a pauper. I am bereft of Krishna. So I am running behind you begging your causeless mercy,

“Please give me Krishna!Please give me Krishna.”

 

Katha Upanisad (1.2.23) says:

 

nayam atma pravacanena labhyo na medhaya na bahuna srutena

yam evai a varnute tena labhyas tasyaiva atma vivrute tanum svam

 

One may hear pravacanas, lectures, from so many persons, but if they are not realized souls, if they have not gotten Krishna, not developed prema-bhakti, one will not be able to understand this paramartha-tattva, this supreme goal.One cannot understand this tattva by dint of his merit, scholarship, or intelligence. It can be understand only by one who is always crying in his heart, “Oh Krishna, how can I know You? How can I approach You?”

 

Krishna is there in the heart. He understands, “This soul is crying for Me.” So He arranges for that person to meet a bona-fide guru who can give him Krishna,who can teach him about krsna-tattva. That dear devotee, who is Krishna’s bona fide representative, is the manifestation of param-atma. That is guru-tattva.

 

Param-atma only manifests Himself as guru before a person who is crying for Krishna in his

heart. “How can I get Krishna? How can Ia pproach Krishna? How can I serve Krishna? Without Krishna’s dear devotee, His representative the guru, I cannot do so. I don’t know who is guru. I am a conditioned soul having four defects. I cannot recognize such a person with my defective senses. But Krishna, You know who is Your dear devotee. Unless You help me, how can I come to You?” This is the prayer to be offered to Krishna.

 

By Krishna’s mercy, one will meet such a guru who is Krishna’s dear devotee and bonafide representative. Take shelter of him and completely surrender — gurupadaraya daksa

 

As Gita says, pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya — serve him, please him, satisfy him, and then humbly ask questions relating to tattva. By his causeless mercy,he will impart tattva-jñana. This is the process. Take shelter of him and do bhajana under his guidance.

 

You don’t know how to do bhajana. Krishna is the bhajanaya-vastu, the worshipable object. Guru will teach you how to serve Krishna, how to surrender unto His lotus feet, how to please Him. He will teach you by his own example, not theoretically. Under his guidance, you will do sadhana, bhajana.

 

Caitanya-caritamrta(madhya 22.25) states:

 

tate krsna bhaje kare gurura sevanamaya jala chu

e, paya krsnera carana

 

If the conditioned soul engages in the service of the Lord and simultaneously carries out the orders of his spiritual master and serves him, he can get out of the clutches of maya and become eligible for shelter at Krishna’s lotus feet.

 

Heavy Responsibility

 

Such a guru, who is a bona-fide representative of Krishna, has come down from Krishna’s abode. There is a prema-bhakti-sutra. Sutra means “rope” or “thread”. One end of the prema-bhakti-sutra is attached to the lotus feet of Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan. The guru has come with the other end of that rope here. The conditioned souls, fallen in the deep,dark well of material existence, are suffering. Such a guru is outside the well. He’s not under the grip of maya. He throws his end of the rope to the conditioned souls in the dark well of material existence and says, “Clasp it very tightly.” Then he pulls you up. This is the process.

 

The guru does this. It is not an easy affair to deliver even one conditioned soul from the fort of maya. The guru has to spend gallons and gallons of spiritual blood to deliver just one soul. It is a heavy responsibility. If even one conditioned soul is delivered, the guru feels so much happiness.

 

It is a reciprocal affair. It is not one-sided. You should clasp the end of the rope very tightly. That means you should follow the guru’s instruction as it is. Don’t twist it. Don’t add any of your deliberation to it. Whatever he says, just do exactly that. He gives some“do’s” and some “don’ts”. You must strictly follow his instructions. Don’t be lazy. Then the guru will pull you up. Otherwise, if you are not serious, if you are lazy, careless, or superfluous, you will never accept guru’s instruction. Or you half accept it and half reject it. You add your own deliberations and twist it. Then you cannot be helped. If you are very serious, very strict, then guru will pull you up. That is his duty. Otherwise, guru may lift you up, then you deviate or become lenient and then you again fall down. Seeing this, the guru feels great pain in his heart, “I spent so many gallons of blood to deliver him, but this fellow didn’t follow, so he fell down. ”To deliver just one soul from maya’s fortress is a very difficult task. It is a heavy responsibility. This is guru.

[krsna]

This is from Sri Rama das Babaji's Sadhaka-Kanthamala.

 

Asraya kariyA bando srI guru carana/

jAhA haite mile bhAi krsna-prema dhana//

 

jIvera nistAra lAgi nanda-suta hari/

bhuvane prakAsa hana guru-rUpa dhari//

 

mahimAya guru krsna eka kari jAna/

guru AjnA hrde saba satya kari mAna//

 

satya-jnAne guru vAkye jAhAra visvAsa/

avasya tAhAra haya vrajabhume vAsa//

 

jAra prati gurudeva hana parasanna/

kona vighne seha nAhi haya avasanna//

 

krsna rusta ha'le guru rAkhibAre pAre/

guru rusta ha'le krsna rAkhibAre nAre//

 

guru mAtA guru pitA guru hana pati/

guru vinA e samsAre nAhi Ara gati//

 

guruke manusya-jnAna nA kara kakhana/

guru-nindA kabhu karne nA kara sravana//

 

guru nindukera mukha kabhu nA heribe/

yathA haya guru-nindA tathA nA jAibe//

 

gurura vikriyA yadi dekhaha kakhana/

tathApi avajnA nAhi kara kadAcana//

 

guru-pAdapadme rahe jAra nisthA bhakti/

jagat tArite sei dhare mahAsakti//

 

hena guru pAdapadma karaha vandanA/

yAhA haite ghuce bhAi sakala yantranA//

 

guru pAdapadma nitya ye kare vandana/

sire dhari vandi Ami tAhAra carana//

 

sri guru caranapadma hrde kari Asa/

sri guru vandanA kare sanAtana dAsa//

 

Having sought refuge, I bow at Sri guru's feet, from doing which, O brother, one gains the wealth of Krsna-prema.

 

To redeem the jivas Nanda's son Hari appears in the world in the likeness of Sri guru.

 

Guru and Krsna are glorified as one and so the guru's order should always be taken to heart, knowing it is satya.

 

Whoever has deep faith in the guru's utterances as satya-jnana certainly dwells in Vrajabhumi.

 

Whoever courts Sri gurudeva's pleasure, no impediment can cause him harm.

 

If Krsna gets angry Sri guru can protect, but if guru gets angry Krsna will neglect.

 

Guru is mother, guru is father, guru is lord and master. Without Sri guru ther is no recourse in this samsara.

 

Never look upon Sri guru as a worldly man and never lend your ears to guru-nindA.

 

Never even look in the face of them that speak ill of guru and aviod the place where guru nindA is heard.

 

Even if you see some misconduct in Sri guru, never disregard him for it.

 

One who thus cleaves to guru's lotus-feet with firm devotion, carries with him the great power to deliver the world.

 

Bow to such a guru's lotus-feet, O brother, thereby all afflictions cease.

 

Whoever bows to Sri guru's lotus-feet every day, taking his feet upon my head I salute him.

 

Hoping to retain guru's lotus-feet within his heart,

 

Sanatan das makes guru vandanA.