Today is the disappearance anniversary of Rupa Goswami. Rupa Goswami, even in a worldly sense, was born into a very aristocratic high family. He comes in the family lineage of Bharadvaja Muni (Bharadvaja Gotra). He was from Karnataka state in India (South India). And then from there gradually in their family lineage came Kumaradeva. Accepting Kumaradeva and their mother, whose name is not known, Rupa Goswami, Sanatan Goswami and Anupam appeared in this world. Rupa Goswami was highly qualified, so being a Brahmin, Hussain Shah Badashah (the king at that time) appointed him as an important minister. Hussain Shah Badashah kept Rupa Goswami’s name as Dabir Khas, Sanatan Goswami’s name as Sakara Mallik and their younger brother was named Anupam Mallik.

At that time, Rupa Goswami was staying at Ramakeli village, near the district of Malda. Malda was the capital of the Muslim Emperor at that time. Rupa Goswami had a big palace there. Mahaprabhu met Rupa Goswami, Sanatan Goswami and Anupam for the first time beneath kadamba and tamal trees in Ramakeli village. I have been to that place. When there was a five hundred year advent anniversary of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, our Gurudev celebrated it at different places; we have been to that place. Many people say that Jiva Goswami was already born at the time when Mahaprabhu arrived at Ramakeli. His father is Anupam. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave him His darsan there. Rupa Goswami was the finance minister, Sanatan Goswami was Prime Minister, and Anupam was also working there. After having darsan of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as per His desire, Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami also received the grace of Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakur. That time the emperor Hussain Shah got worried about seeing several lakhs (you may say one million) of Hindus coming with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He asked Dabir Khas (Rupa Goswami) ‘’What is this? Why are so many Hindu here?’’ Then Rupa Goswami said, “He is one mendicant (bhikhari). Nothing to worry about. There is no difficulty." There was one Rajput with a name Keshava who also intelligently pacified the king by saying, “He has come as a mendicant, a beggar. There is no reason to worry.”

At that time Sanatan Goswami, after getting the grace of Nityananda Prabhu and Haridas Thakur, met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu one more time. Holding grass in his teeth, expressing his humbleness, he said, “We are most unfortunate because we are in service here. We are associating with mlecchas (Muslims). We are working under those who are killing cows and other animals. We are millions of times more degraded, fallen and sinful than Jagai and Madhai. Please rescue us.” Chaitanya Mahaprabhu put His hand on their heads and said, “You should not worry about anything.” By seeing Mahaprabhu, they lost their desire to remain as Prime Minister or Minister. They wanted to relinquish everything. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told, “No, not now, when I go to Vrindavan then you also will come.” Sanatan Goswami said to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,

yāra saṅge cale ei loka lakṣa-koṭi
vṛndāvana-yātrāra e nahe paripāṭī
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 1.224)

“It is not the right way to go to Vrindavan taking lakhs of people along.”

So many millions of people are going. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is not giving any money to them, any food to them to attract them, nothing. By seeing Him, attracted by Him, they are all going automatically. Sanatan Goswami thought it is not good to go with so many people; everywhere Muslim rulers are there who may think something else. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu continued his journey till Kanair Natashala, and there he thought why Sanatan spoke like that. I should not go to Vrindavan with so many people. Then He returned.

When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu left for Vrindavan the second time, first Rupa Goswami and Anupam left their services and went to have His darshan and His association. They kept some money for Sanatan Goswami. Sanatan Goswami also left his duty as Prime Minister and remained in the house discussing Srimad Bhagavatam all the time. As Hussain Shah Badshah had love for him, he came to see him and saw that he is fit. He asked, “Why you have become indifferent? Who will rule this kingdom except you?” He showed affection. But Sanatan Goswami did not go, he said, “No, I have got no desire.” Then afterwards, when Hussain Shah Badshah went to Orissa to fight, at that time he imprisoned Sanatan Goswami. Rupa Goswami sent a message to Sanatan Goswami, “I am going, I have kept some money for you. In whatever way try to rescue yourself from the imprisonment and come to Vrindavan. I am going.” He sent the message in some secret words, which ordinary people cannot understand but Sanatan Goswami could understand the significance of his writing.

When Rupa Goswami reached Allahabad (Prayag), he met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in one South Indian Brahmin’s house and by seeing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he offered obeisances and expressed humbleness. He prayed

namo mahā-vadānyāya
kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te
kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 19.53)

I do not want to say all this because this is a vast subject but this aspect one should know. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu imparted Bhakti-siddhanta through Sanatan Goswami and Bhakti-rasa, the culmination of the Bhakti-rasa, through Rupa Goswami. Krishna Das Kaviraja Goswami writes in Chaitanya Charitamrta Madhya Lila (19.1),

vṛndāvanīyāṁ rasa-keli-vārtāṁ
kālena luptāṁ nija-śaktim utkaḥ
saṣcārya rūpe vyatanot punaḥ sa
prabhur vidhau prāg iva loka-sṛṣṭim

In the beginning of every chapter, Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami writes a Sanskrit verse about what he is going to write in that chapter. It is his own writing—this Sanskrit verse.

Vṛndāvanīyāṁ rasa-keli-vārtāṁ — all the pastime places of Radha Krishna in Vraja-mandal had disappeared; nobody could know except Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He again revived them through Rupa Goswami. There in Vrindavan Dham—Radhakunda, Shyamkunda everything had disappeared, nobody knew where. Vrindavane… saṣcārya—and He did it through Rupa Goswami. If you want to get culmination of Rasa, you can get it through the grace of Rupa Goswami.

The preceptorial channel, in which the real knowledge descends, starts from Brahma. Brahma first appeared from the navel of Vishnu. That time he could not understand where he had come from and where to go. He performed immense penance for thousands of years. Ultimately Krishna gave him Gayatri Mantra and asked him to worship Him ; he should practice this and then he will get everything. By the grace of Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, that Sambandha, Abhidheya, Prayojana gyan (knowledge) was imparted to Brahma first and then through a preceptorial channel it came to Sanatan Goswami. Brahma could not get the knowledge by his own capacity. We cannot get that knowledge merely by going through the books. Kaviraja Goswami has written,

veda-śāstra kahe—‘sambandha’, ‘abhidheya’, ‘prayojana’
‘kṛṣṇa’—prāpya sambandha, ‘bhakti’—prāptyera sādhana
abhidheya-nāma ‘bhakti’, ‘prema’ — prayojana
puruṣārtha-śiromaṇi prema mahā-dhana
(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta Madhya 20.124-125)

Can you feel this? Veda-sastra substantiates this. What is the teaching of veda-sastra? We have got a relation with Krishna. Sambandha means relationship—we have come from Krishna, we are in Krishna, we are by Krishna, we are for Krishna, we are the part of the potency of Krishna. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said we are the marginal potency of Krishna. And the Sambandha is acintya-bheda-abheda—inconceivable simultaneous distinction and non-distinction. By the distinction you can know ‘Who am I?’ If my potency remains for me, the potency of Supreme Lord would remain for Supreme Lord. The part of the potency is a servant of the servant of the servants of the Supreme Lord. We are parts of the potency, we are eternal servants of Supreme Lord—that is Sambandha. And Abhidheya is Bhakti. We have got an eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord through Bhakti, a causeless devotion. The causeless devotion is the eternal nature of the real-self. Now we do not have understanding because we are being enveloped by the illusory energy. We have got false ego and false interests. But actually, our real self comes from the marginal potency of the Supreme Lord. We should remain for Him otherwise we will remain enveloped as we have become averse to Sri Krishna. The illusory energy has enveloped us. We are thinking we are of this world, we are passing through cycles of births and deaths. We have got this human birth and that too in this blessed Kaliyuga—it is our great fortune.

In one day of Brahma, Nanda Nandana Krishna appears only once in Dwaparyuga of twenty eighth Chaturyuga of the seventh Manvantara (Vaivasvata-manvantara). He does not appear in any other Dwaparyuga. There are seventy one Chaturyuga in the life of one Manu and the lives of fourteen Manu equal one day of Brahma. When Nanda Nandana Krishna appears in Dwaparyuga, He gives the Divine Love (Prema) and satisfaction to His own personal associates (Vraja-vasis), not to the outsiders. In the next Kaliyuga in that particular Dwaparyuga, Nanda Nandana Krishna again appears taking the complexion and the mood of worship of Radharani, outside golden complexion, inside Krishna. He appears in Navadwip Dham with His personal associates to bestow that Prema—the consort-hood of love, gopi-prema, to all without consideration of caste, creed or religion. We are born in the same Kaliyuga. Nanda Nandana Krishna does not appear in all Kaliyuga. In other Kaliyuga, Vishnu appears to introduce the dharma of Nama-Sankirtana, but in this Kaliyuga (seventh Manvantar, in the Kaliyuga of twenty eighth Chaturyuga) the source of all Avataras Sri Krishna appears. All Kaliyuga are not so blessed. In this Kaliyuga, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared and He said, “I am giving this order to you, do Sankirtana and you will get everything”. He came taking the form of a Guru because in this Kaliyuga, it is very difficult to get a bona fide Guru. In Kaliyug, three-fourths are adharma (unrighteous) and only one-fourth is dharma. Only twenty-five percent of the total population are religious and amongst them there are Karmi, Gyani, Yogi etc. The devotees of the Lord are very little.

Now, what has Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said to Rupa Goswami at Dasaswamedh-ghat? Go through Chaitanya Charitamrta, He said,

eita brahmāṇḍa bhari’ ananta jīva-gaṇa
caurāśī-lakṣa yonite karaye bhramaṇa
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 19.138)

“Infinite jīvas, countless number of living beings are moving in this Brahmanda.” Brahmanda means of fourteen worlds, there are infinite Brahmandas. You cannot comprehend, you cannot finish counting it. Supreme Lord is infinite, everything is infinite. His transcendental realm is also infinite. Brahmāṇḍa bhari’ ananta jīva-gaṇa — infinite jīvas are roaming in this world and passing through cycles of births and deaths. There are eighty four Lakhs (eight million and four hundred thousand) species. We have passed through eighty Lakhs species and then we have this human birth. God has given us the power to understand what is good and what is bad in the human birth. We can accept the good; All-Good is the Supreme Lord. He is eternal—All-Existence, All-Knowledge and All-Bliss. We have got the discriminating power to know what is eternal and what is not eternal. Other living beings have got no such power. So, we have to understand that the human birth is given only for the worship of Supreme Lord, who is eternal—All-Existence, All-Knowledge, All-Blissful — purna sachidananda. The Lord further said,

tāra madhye ‘sthāvara’, ‘jaṅgama’ — dui bheda
jaṅgame tiryak-jala-sthalacara-vibheda
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 19.144)

“The unlimited living entities can be divided into two divisions—those who can move and those who cannot move. Among living entities that can move, there are birds, aquatics and animals.”

pārāpāra-śūnya gabhīra bhakti-rasa -sindhu
tomāya cākhāite tāra kahi eka ‘bindu’
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 19.137)

“The ocean of the transcendental mellows of devotional service is so big that no one can estimate its length and breadth. However, just to help you taste it, I am describing but one drop.”

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said further, “You see this Krishna-prema ocean is pārāpāra-śūnya—without any shores; there are no shores (without any end). The worldly ocean has got an end but the Krishna-prema-sindhu is without any end.” The Lord is saying, “I am describing a drop of it to you, for tasting that sweetness. I cannot describe the whole ocean of Krishna-prema.”

Then He said, “All these living beings are divided in to two categories, sthāvara (immobile) and jaṅgama (mobile). These trees and mountains are immobile; they are also living beings. There are mobile living beings. Amongst the immobile and mobile, the mobile beings are superior. The mobile living beings are further divided in different classes, tiryak-jala-sthalacara-vibheda—some living beings are flying in the sky, some living beings remain in water—aquatic animals and some are moving on the land—the terrestrial elements. Amongst them, the terrestrial elements are superior and among the terrestrial elements, human beings are very few. Amongst the human beings, you will find persons who do not have any knowledge of the Vedas, there are also Mleccha, Pulinda, Bauddha —those who do not believe in the existence of the Lord. If you eliminate them then very few persons remain.

And those who believe in the Vedas, they also

veda-niṣṭha-madhye ardheka veda ‘mukhe’ māne
veda-niṣiddha pāpa kare, dharma nāhi gaṇe
(Sri Chaitanya Charitarmta Madhya 19.146)

“Amongst those who believe in Vedas, half of the persons are following the teachings of the Vedas in just words. They have not seen the Vedas; they do not know what the teachings of the Vedas are—half of the persons are like that—‘mukhe’ māne. Only by words they say that they are the followers of the Vedas”

dharmācāri-madhye bahuta (adhika) ‘karma-niṣṭha’
koṭi-karma-niṣṭha-madhye eka ‘gyānī’ śreṣṭha
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 19.147)

Amongst the followers of Vedas, most of them are karma-niṣṭha—who want non-eternal benefits of this world. Koṭi-karma-niṣṭha-madhye eka ‘gyānī’ śreṣṭha—those who do not want these non-eternal benefits, they want emancipation. They do not want to go to heaven or to any other higher worlds from where after finishing pious activities they will be driven out, thrown from there to this world. Gyānīs do not want that, they want emancipation. Among millions of such gyānīs—only one gyānī can attain emancipation or salvation, an emancipated state of existence he can get. Koṭi-gyāni-madhye haya eka-jana ‘mukta’, only one can get emancipation.

Koṭi-mukta-madhye ‘durlabha’ eka kṛṣṇa-bhakta—among millions of such emancipated souls, only one can be kṛṣṇa-bhakta. Kṛṣṇa-bhakta is rare. It is not so easy—‘durlabha’ kṛṣṇa-bhakta. I am speaking how an enslaved jīva of this world, conditioned soul, can get kṛṣṇa-bhakti.

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
mālī hayiā kare sei bīja āropaṇa
śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana
upajiyā bāḍe latā ‘brahmāṇḍa’ bhedi’ yāya
‘virajā’ ‘brahma-loka’ bhedi’ ‘para-vyoma’ pāya
tabe yāya tad-upari ‘goloka-vṛndāvana’
‘kṛṣṇa-caraṇa’-kalpa-vṛkṣe kare ārohaṇa
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 19.151-154)

What is the meaning? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has explained, how we can get kṛṣṇa-prema; it is so scarce, not so easy. Amongst millions of emancipated souls, you will find one kṛṣṇa-bhakta. And how can we get that kṛṣṇa-bhakti? It is said here brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva—by moving or ambulating in this world, only a fortunate soul, not all, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja—by the grace of Guru and Krishna, gets the seed, the life-full seed, not the dead seed. Those who are bhāgyavān (sukṛtivān)—those who have done some service to Kṛṣṇa and kṛṣṇa-bhakta knowingly or unknowingly, they, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa and Guru get the seed—the Mantra, the life-full seed, not the dead seed, from a pure devotee, sad-guru.

As we have heard in the life of Dhruva, first, we have to do what he did. He chanted the Holy Name of Sri Hari. He called out, kahān padma-palāsh-lochan hari—“Where is the lotus eyed Lord Hari?” By following the advice from his mother, he found a firm faith. He accepted her teachings in toto . She advised, “You should worship Lord Hari; you will get more property than your father. Your desire will be fulfilled.” He asked, “How to worship Lord Hari?” She replied, “You utter the Name of Hari.” In Satyayuga, meditation was the method of worship. But mother (Suniti Devi) advised him to chant the Name. She warned him, “While you chant the Name, you should not blame your step-mother or your father. Human beings in this world, they reap the fruits of their own actions, others are only instrumental; they are not the cause. If you wrongly blame them and become hostile to them then Krishna will be dissatisfied and you will not get Him.” She said,

māmaṅgalaṁ tāta pareṣu maṁsthā
bhuṅkte jano yat para-duḥkhadas tat
(Srimad Bhagavatam 4.8.17)

“Do not blame others for your sufferings. We reap the fruits of our own actions, good and bad actions. We must have done such behavior with someone else in some other birth; God is omniscient. Your step-mother rebuked you like anything; you are getting the fruit of your own action. You should not have any hostile mentality against your step-mother or against your father or anybody.” He immediately accepted that and he effaced all kinds of hostile mentality from his heart. If you have any kind of hostile mentality to anybody in this world then you cannot get Him. You may say, “The Supreme Lord is giving a blessing to Dhruva but He is not blessing me.” But it is not like that. Dhruva accepted the teachings of his mother and his Gurudev in Toto. You have not accepted all the teachings of the Guruvarga and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Toto. By the grace of Hari, Dhruva got Guru—Narada Goswami.

Tulsidas said, binu harikripa milat nahi santa — without the grace of the Supreme Lord one cannot get the bona fide Guru. By the grace of bona fide Guru one will get Krishna. Both are related. By the grace of Krishna, Guru will come and Guru will then advise you, he will give you a Mantra. If a bona fide Guru gives Mantra then only the Mantra will be life-full . Even after obtaining the life-full seed, if you sow the seed in the land which is not cultivated then you will not get anything. Land should be cultivated. Here the cultivated land refers to the heart which is ready; the heart which is cultivated; what does it mean? Should it be done with a plough? No. Here, cultivated heart means the heart with a firm faith that by serving Krishna one serves all, there shouldn’t be any doubt in this. If you sow the seed (life-full seed) in such a heart then there will be fruits and if you sow it in the stones, the un-cultivated land, you will not get anything. Cultivated land means the heart with a firm faith, śraddhā—firm faith—I am from Krishna, I am in Krishna, I am by Krishna. By serving Krishna, I am doing my eternal benefit, I am doing eternal benefit to all; I am paying my debts to all―to parents, to demigods, to human beings, to other living beings. He is an all unifying spiritual principle, by serving Him you serve all. He is at the root; if you pour water at the root of the tree, the whole tree is nourished. Many times you have heard this but have you got that belief? Even Arjuna, although he played the pastimes of an aspirant votary, he is a personal associate of the Lord―he is playing the pastime. He said, “If I do not do my duties to my parents, to other human beings, and other demigods etc. then I shall be indebted to them.” Krishna says to him:

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te
pratijāne priyo ’si me
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 18.65)

“Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.”

Then like an ignorant person, Arjuna is asking, “If I engage myself fully in Your service and do not do my duties, then shall I not commit sin?”

In reply to his question, Krishna says,

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 18.66)

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.”

Krishna says, “You are from Me, you are in Me, you are by Me. If you serve Me, there cannot be any apprehension. I am giving you the word, I am giving this guarantee to you—I shall rescue you from all sins.” With this sort of faith when you pray then you will get a bona fide Guru. Bona fide Guru should be śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham—well versed in scriptural knowledge and firmly fixed in Brahman. He should be brahma-niṣṭham not viṣaya- niṣṭham (having attachment in worldly things) like Shanda and Amarka. They are the disciples of Shukracharya, they are śrotriyaṁ in one sense but they are not Sad-Guru because they have got attachment to worldly things. They advised Prahlad and his classmates who were demons boys about worldly politics and worldly benefits—dharma, artha, kāma. They are not the actual Gurus. An actual Guru is one whose mind is permanently fixed in Brahma, who has the realization of Brahma. Only theoretical knowledge is not sufficient, practical knowledge should also be there. Such bona fide Gurus are rare. For that reason, Mahadeva has said to Parvati Devi,

bahavaḥ guravo santi
śiṣya-vittāpahārakaḥ
durlabhaḥ sadgururdevi
śiṣya-saṁtāpa-hārakam
(Padma Puran)

“There are so many Gurus who are eager to snatch money from their disciples. But one can rarely get a bona fide Guru who can snatch the afflictions of his disciples.”

So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is teaching us through Rupa Goswami that one has to first get a life -full seed. Lifeless seed will not be fruitful. It is like a paddy seed without rice in it. From outside it may appear like a paddy seed but as there is no rice in it, if you sow it in cultivated land, will it produce any tree ? Outer covering of the seed looks like a paddy seed but it is without life. It should be a life-full seed. So the Mantra should be obtained from a pure devotee, at the back of whom, the Supreme Lord is there. If you get Mantra from anybody else, who is not dear to Krishna then Krishna will not come there because it is a lifeless seed. Prahlad has got a life-full seed from Narada Goswami. Krishna is present in that seed. Whatever Narada Goswami says Krishna will fulfill that. The Supreme Lord appeared as Narasimha Deva to fulfill whatever Prahlad Maharaj has said. So, we should have such a Guru who has got scriptural knowledge, who can also remove our doubts. Those votaries who want to get the Supreme Lord, His service, if they have doubts then how they can have progress? So, Guru must have the capability to remove doubts by reasoning and that should be substantiated by scriptural knowledge. They should also have realization.

There are so many conditioned souls and they all are in different states. They have got different diseases. How will a doctor treat them? Doctor will examine the disease, and after examination if true diagnosis is possible then he can give the actual medicine. Like that one who has got the realization of the Supreme Lord can give practical knowledge according to the necessity of the aspirants or of the votaries who want to achieve God. One kind of advice will not be beneficial to all. So, the heart should be cultivated by the means of having firm faith and should get the seed from a pure devotee. Even if we have got a bona fide Guru and we also have faith, everything is correct, but we do not pour any water, then will there be any sprout from the seed? The seed is there; if you do not give water to it, will you get anything? Will a tree come out? You have to give it water. You also have to provide fencing as when the sprout comes, animals like goats etc. could harm that. The fencing protection here is the association of sadhus, śuddha bhakta. We may think that we have got Sad-Guru so we have got everything, now we are blessed and we have to do nothing. No, it should not be like that. It is just the beginning, you have got the seed and you sow it in your heart, and now you have to give water to it. The water here is śravaṇa-kīrtana. You have to give water daily. You have to hear about Krishna, His Name, Form, Attributes, His Pastimes and His Associates. They all are transcendental. If you do not hear and if you do not think about them, then you cannot get any kind of progress in devotion. If there is no water—drought, then the crops will be burnt. So, you have to give water, daily. You listen to the Sadhu when he has come and when he goes you take a leave for one year, it is not correct. You have to hear and chant daily; daily you have to give water—śravaṇa-kīrtana. Further it is said,

upajiyā bāḍe latā ‘brahmāṇḍa’ bhedi’ yāya
‘virajā’, ‘brahma-loka’ bhedi’ ‘para-vyoma’ pāya

Here, the devotional progress is compared with the progress of latā. Latā means a creeper, a creeper cannot rise up without any support. A creeper is a kind of tree which needs some support. Bhakti has got no support in this Brahmanda. There is no object here where Bhakti can rest. When you perform Bhakti then you have to pierce through Brahmanda. In this Brahmanda you will not get Bhakti, everything is non-eternal here. Our object of devotion is the Supreme Lord; He is not here. Brahmāṇḍa bhedi’ yāya—when you do bhajan as per the direction of Gurudev and Vaishnavas then the creeper will grow and will try to get the support, some shelter. It will not get support here, it will pierce through Brahmanda. It then goes to virajā, where there is no creation, there is no activity of rajo-guṇa. By rajo-guṇa living beings are created and by satva-guṇa they are sustained and by tamo-guṇa they are destroyed. There is no rajo-guṇa in virajā, that also is nescience. There, in the virajā you will not find waves of suffering what we find here in this world because of the presence of rajo-guna. Here, we have to pass through cycles of births and deaths; we have to enter into the mother’s womb and ultimately we have to die. There are also three-fold afflictions in this world. In virajā there is no creation which is also nescience, there is no suffering but we can’t find any shelter of a śuddha bhakta. So we have to pierce through virajā.

After crossing virajā , the creeper reaches to Brahma Dham. Bhakti rests on the object of worship but Brahma Dham is an impersonal formless Brahman. There is no object to rest upon. Whom to worship? So, you have to pierce through Brahma Dham. Then after that we shall go to para-vyoma. Para-vyoma means Vaikuntha. When you get there, Narayana is there on whom Bhakti creeper can rest, but you can serve Narayana only in śānta-rasa (neutral) or dāsya-rasa or with majestic sākhya-rasa—as a friend but with fear. There is sākhya-rasa in Vaikuntha Dham but there devotees who see Narayana as great, in a majestic aspect as the Supreme Lord. They serve and make a friendship relation with fear. But as we have got the seed from the preceptorial channel of Rupa Goswami, that seed will take you to Vrindavan Dham, not to this majestic aspect in Vaikuntha Dham. You have to cross over this Vaikuntha and you have to culminate at the lotus feet of Krishna, who is the object of all love, sweet love. There are no restrictions, you can get everything there. Now I am speaking very hurriedly like the Concorde plane, time is short what can be done?

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
mālī haṣā kare sei bīja āropaṇa
śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana

You are a gardener; the votary is a gardener, florist. What will a gardener do?—he will sow the seed; you have to sow the seed. You are the aspirant; you want to go to Vrindavan Dham—the transcendental sweet realm. As a gardener you have to do that. The aspirant who wants that object is the gardener. Mālī haṣā kare sei bīja āropaṇa—you become the gardener, sow the seed and fence it. Fencing means you have to remain with the Sadhus, surrounded by the Sadhus, otherwise goats and other animals like elephants can come and destroy it. You should be surrounded by Sadhus every minute so that the mad elephants (Hathi-mata) cannot uproot the seed. What is the process of going to the ultimate object—the lotus feet of Nanda Nandan Sri Krishna, where you will get everything?

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
mālī haṣā kare sei bīja āropaṇa
śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana
upajiyā bāḍe latā ‘brahmāṇḍa’ bhedi’ yāya
‘virajā’, ‘brahma-loka’ bhedi’ ‘para-vyoma’ pāya
tabe yāya tad-upari ‘goloka-vṛndāvana’
‘kṛṣṇa-caraṇa’-kalpa-vṛkṣe kare ārohaṇa
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 19.151-154)

The creeper of bhakti can ascend, can climb to the lotus feet of Sri Krishna and you can get actual shelter there. The lotus feet of Krishna are the object of love for all, the sweet love.

But it is said—you should be very careful with the Vaishnava aparādha (offence),

yadi vaiṣṇava-aparādha uṭhe hātī mātā
upāḍe vā chiṇḍe, tāra śukhi’ yāya pātā

As a gardener you should be very careful, if a mad elephant comes then he will break all the fencing. If you go to Assam you will see, when mad elephants do not get food they come to the villages and destroy everything. The government orders us not to kill them so you should not kill. Here, the mad elephant is aparādha—offence at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava. Vilification of Vaishnava is the greatest obstacle, it will destroy everything and you will not reach the objective. You should be very careful, do not take the risk of reproaching Vaishnavas. Every human being has good and bad qualities in them. You have to accept the good qualities and give up the bad qualities. You have to see your own defects and try to see qualities in others then there will be no apprehension of committing offence. For that reason, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said in the third verse of Shikshastaka,

tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

Not even a human being, you should think yourself lower than even grass. Amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ—you have to give respect to all, because your object of worship is residing in the heart of everyone, by this consideration you can give respect to everyone. There is no apprehension of committing offence if you follow this teaching of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. How can you do Harinam always? By becoming tṛṇād api sunīcena—humbler than the blade of grass and being more forbearing than a tree you should give respect to all without seeking respect from others. If you desire to get respect from others and when they do not give, you will be dissatisfied, you will be unbalanced, and your bhajan will stop. You have to practice these four qualities, then there will be no offence. The offense to the lotus feet of Vaishnavas is a serious offence. The Supreme Lord will be immediately become dissatisfied, your whole bhajan will be nowhere if you commit offence to the Vaishnavas.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not forgive the offence of the Brahmin who tried to defame Srivas Pandit. Because of his offence, he got the disease of leprosy. Nityananda Prabhu also got very angry when Ramchandra Khan tried to vilify Haridasa Thakur and tried to insult him by sending a prostitute. Nityananda Prabhu who rescued even the great sinners, Jagai and Madhai, got angry with Ramchandra Khan. So you should be very careful, about this our Guru Maharaj used to say, “Don’t take the risk, give respect to all. You see your own defects then you will have your rectification. You see the qualities of the Vaishnavas.” Only those who have got love for the jīvās have got the right to govern or regulate others. Those who have got the love, they have got the right. Parents have the right to punish their children; there will be no defamation case against them. But others who have got no love, if they do anything then a defamation case can be filed. Parents slap the child for his own good. Like that, those Sadhus who have got love for the jīvās are entitled to govern. We have got kāma (lust) and if there is any obstacle in fulfilling that kāma we become furious. How we can regulate others? Therefore you have to see qualities in others and defects in yourself.

Further it is said,

seka-jala pāyiā upaśākhā bāḍi’ yāya
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madya 19.160)

When you have started the bhajan, what have you said to Gurudev? When Gurudev said, “You will have to worship Krishna”.

You said, “Yes.”

“Will you accept all these positive assertions?”

“Yes.”

“Will you give up negative assertions?”

“Yes.”

When you accepted everything then you were given the Mantra. Your objective is to satisfy Krishna. You have got numerous births and previous bad impressions. So, you have got the desire to get a name, fame and money.

niṣiddhācāra, niṣiddhācāra’, ‘kuṭīnāṭī’, ‘jīva-hiṁsana’
‘lābha’, ‘pūjā’, ‘pratiṣṭhādi’ yata upaśākhā-gaṇa
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madya 19.159)

Niṣiddhācāra mean an illicit sex connection, if you have that then you will not have progress. The water you give will go wherever there is a deep cavity. Water will go towards the hole, towards the cavity, water will not go up. When you perform Harinam, you give water to the Bhakti creeper. If your mental attitude is that I should get wealth by doing this Harinam, I shall perform Harinam, you give me a thousand dollars, then you are not doing Harinam for Harinam's sake. I shall hold discourses for Srimad Bhagavat for seven days and for that I demand ten thousand dollars. Then what is the purpose? The purpose is not the service; it is a kind of business. I should get name and fame, all these ulterior desires—niṣiddhācāra. You are using the discussion on Bhagavat, Harinam and the worship of deity to get money, get some worldly benefits; it is not good. If you have got that sort of mentality, you should remove the weeds. When you are growing paddy and if you allow other plants to grow then all the water will be sucked by those plants, unnecessary useless plants. You have to remove all the unnecessary weeds then the trees of the paddy will grow. If you have got all these sort of ulterior motives in the mind, you should cut them out, being a gardener. When there are other plants you should cut them. Then the object that you want to carry—the paddy will grow. But if you want to get Krishna-prema then you have to remove ulterior motives from your heart. If you do not do so then all your energy that you are spending for sādhan will go to the weeds existing in your inner heart—you want money, you want name and fame, you want a sex connection. You will get those things. So as a gardener, first you have to immediately remove the weeds with the help of the Vaishnavas.

The original cause of our submitting to a śuddha bhakta is to get Prema. If we do not see that then all our bhajan will go to the thoughts which we have deep in our heart—I am doing Harinam; I shall get money, I shall get all these ulterior things, then you cannot get the objective.

prathamei upaśākhāra karaye chedana
tabe mūla-śākhā bāḍi’ yāya vṛndāvana

The original śākhā will to go Vrindavan. You go through Rupa Goswami’s teachings very carefully, and the explanation by Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Bhaktivinoda Thakur. It requires time. I have to read the book, original book and explanation . But there are many persons who have got no patience to hear because they have to go and do some work, not like Pariksit Maharaj. Pariksit Maharaj was not taking food, not taking rest, not taking water, all the time hearing, hearing and hearing. Will you find such a person now? Sukadev Goswami was speaking for seven days and seven nights without taking a rest, without taking food, without taking water. The speaker is such and the listener is such. You will not get such a listener and such a speaker. Then how we can get the objective?

Gauri Das Pandita Goswami is the personal associate of Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu is Baladeva. Baladeva has appeared as Nityananda. Baladeva has got twelve (dvādaśa) śākhā (confidants). One amongst them is Subala Shakha. Subala Shakha appeared as Gauri Das Pandita. He appeared at Shaligram but as per the desire of his elder brother, he went to Ambika. Kamsari Mishra had six sons—Damodara, Jagannath, Surya Das Sarakhela, Krishna Dasa, Nrishinga-Chaitanya and Gauri Das Pandita. Gauri Das Pandita's elder brother is Surya Das Sarakhela. Surya Das is the father of Vasudha and Jahnava, the consorts of Nityananda Prabhu. Every Vishnu-tattva has got three potencies—Sri, Bhu and Lila. Sri Shakti, Bhu Shakti —Lord Baladeva also has two potencies—Varuni and Revati. Varuni and Revati appeared as Vasudha and Jahnava. Without the potencies, the Lord is incomplete. Jahnava and Vasudha appeared accepting Surya Das Sarakhela as their father. He is the elder brother of Gauri Das Pandita.

Gauri Das Pandita used to stay in Shaligram. But by taking permission from his elder brother, he went to Ambika, by the side of the Ganges. His actual place of bhajan is in Ambika and also near to that is Kalna, both at a time it is said Ambika-Kalna. At that time when Gauri Das Pandita was there, he got a disciple—Hridaya Chaitanya, Hridayananda. Hridaya Chaitanya’s disciples are Gopiraman and Shyamananda Prabhu. Gauri Das Pandita has no family son but the disciple—Gopiraman's vansh (family) is there. When Gauri Das Pandita was in his own house, he was always thinking about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Ambika-Kalna from Shantipura. He boarded a boat from Harinadi gram, actually from Shantipura and by rowing the boat with an oar, He reached Kalna. He gave that oar and one Gita to Gauri Das Pandita, which he accepted. If you go there, they will show that hand written Gita and also that oar. Mahaprabhu met Gauri Das Pandita, beneath a tamarind tree there just at the entrance. If you go to South India, you will see tamarind trees, in Hindi it is called ‘Imli ka ped’, Nityananda Prabhu also came there. And Gauri Das Pandita’s desire was fulfilled. When Nityananda, Gauranga wanted to go, they said to Gauri Das Pandita,

“We shall now go.”

“No I shall not allow it, I cannot tolerate Your separation. You cannot go.”

“What is this, we shall remain here? We have so many duties to perform. Then from this Neem tree you make life-size Murti (deities), like us, so tall” And thus They manifested as Nityananda and Gauranga. They then prepared and offered various items to both of Them. Then again Gauranga, Nityananda said now you have got these Vigraha (deities of Nitai-Gauranga) so we are going. Gauri Das pandita said, “No.”

“Why? Vigraha are there. Either They (Vigraha) will go or We will go.”

“Let Them (Nitai-Gauranga Vigraha) go.”

So to fulfil the desire of Gauri Das Pandit, the Vigraha went from there and Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu remained there, can you believe? Today is his disappearance anniversary. We have to make innumerable obeisances at the lotus feet of Gauri Das Pandita Goswami. As Nityananda Prabhu is compassionate, He is gracious to all living beings of this world, all conditioned souls of this world. Nityananda Prabhu and Gauri Das Pandita has rescued many conditioned souls / enslaved jīvās of this world. He can appear if you pray from the core of the heart. Today is his disappearance anniversary and we have to do the Kirtan, Je anilo prema dhana.