We have come to this place earlier several times. But in this temple it is for the first time. It is pronounced as Senoje-temple. The name of the president of this temple is Bhakta-vatsal Sri Hari (Dasa) . He is the servant of Bhakta-vatsal Sri Hari. Today’s subject, which is written outside, is bhakti-yoga. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has preached nothing new. It is already there. Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa Muni has expanded Vedas as Rig, Sama, Atharva and also he has written eighteen Puranas. He has written Vedanta and Brahma Sutra. He has also written Mahabharat and Gita. Gita is within Mahabharat in Viswaparva. But you will find in his pastimes that after writing so many scriptures he could not get eternal peace. I do not want to go into the history. By the advice of his Guru Narada Goswami, first, he was given four verses . Narada Goswami told his disciple Vedavyasa Muni that whatever you have done, you have done wrong.

jugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ
svabhāva-raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.15)

The conditioned souls have their natural inclination towards non-eternal material things and you have done abominable act by instructing them on how to beget those non-eternal things.

You have written many scriptures. What you have given is dharma, artha, kāma. The conditioned souls of this world want money because without money they cannot be happy, they cannot fulfill their wants or their desires. So Vedavyasa Muni has written artha-śāstra for the benefit of the conditioned souls, human beings of this world, to teach them how they will get money, accumulate money, and amass money.

Only human beings are capable of worshiping Supreme Lord. They have got the discriminating power. Other animals have got no discriminating power. This birth is only meant for worship of Supreme Lord. (Srila Gurudev sarcastically says) We shall worship Supreme Lord for getting money! If desires are fulfilled then we are happy!! For fulfilment of desires, he has written kāma-śāstra, so that we can fulfil our desires. Also after death we want to get good life, superior world or if I am going to be born here I want a good birth in a rich family. For that he wrote dharma- śāstra. Vedavyasa Risi said, “I have given everything what the people want.” Narada Goswami said, “Whatever you did, you did wrong.”

Actually this body is not the human being. Nobody in this world considers the body to be the person, whether theist or atheist. An atheist may say, “Nobody can prove it and I don’t believe your scriptures, I am an out-and-out atheist, the body is the person, where is ātmā? I could not see.” But even the atheist who does not admit the evidence of the scriptures, if they are rational being, they should accept reasoning. Does any person consider a dead body to be a person, anywhere in the world? As long as the consciousness exists in the body, thinking, feeling and willing exits, so long as he is considered a person. But when that consciousness leaves the body, then that body is not considered to be a person. If a dead body is burnt in the cremation ground, as social system there in India, or is buried or is devoured by other birds and animals, nowhere in the world you will find that anyone will be prosecuted. If a dead body is burnt or buried, nobody is prosecuted. Now, you find everywhere in government comes with the campaign of vote, vote, vote. You can keep the dead body in tact by chemical procedure, but that dead body will not be considered as a person by the government, by the booth, that they will take the vote. But if a serious, bed-ridden patient (his life is there) is brought on stretcher, they will allow him to cast the vote. As long as life is there, you can cast vote. Actually nobody on earth is accepting this body as a person. They may argue, but they will not accept. When consciousness leaves, this body has got no value. If I ask anybody here, do you want to die then what will be your reply? You will reply, “No Swamiji, I do not want to die.” But you will die. You have got birth; you will remain for some time and you will die. No living being can remain here permanently. All are mortals. Why you do not want to die? If I am not eternally existing principle, if I am non-eternal then I cannot have the desire to remain in this world eternally. Will it be rational? My real self exists eternally, so I want to live in this world eternally. But we are enveloped by the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord consisting of three primal qualities; sattva, rajo and tama. By rajo-guṇa living beings are created, by sattva-guṇa they are sustained, and by tamo-guṇa they are destroyed. Being enveloped by these I think I am born and after birth I remain for some time, and I shall die. He is afraid of death. But actually, his desire is that I shall live in this world eternally. His real self is the eternally existing principle. Otherwise, devoid of existence, non-eternal entity cannot have that desire to live in this world eternally.

Every sentient being, at least human beings, have the desire to inquire or to know or have the inquisitiveness. The desire is there because he is knowledge principle. If you are devoid of knowledge principle then you cannot have the desire to know. If you are devoid of happiness then you cannot have the desire for happiness. So, the self is eternally existing knowledge and blissful principle, and that is called ‘ātmā’. It is said in Gita.

You go through Gita but you do not believe in Gita. What is the use of going through Gita? Krishna says,

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
(Bhagavad-gita 2.20)

There is no birth or death to the ātmā (soul). It is not that he has come into being at certain time in the past and he will exist for certain time in future. It is eternally existing principle for whom there is no birth and death. No one or nothing can kill him. He has got no relation with this mortal body.

This body is perishable, but ātmā is not perishable. Ātmā requires ātmā. ‘Ātmā is draṣṭavyaḥ śrotavyo mantavyo nididhyāsitavyaḥ—one should see everything in the soul’s perspective, should hear about him, should consider everything in his context and should get the full knowledge of him.’ Life perceives life, Greek Aristotle said. This body is composed of five elements: earth, water, fire, air and sky. This body requires the transformations of those five elements like food, etc. for its maintenance. When the body will die it will go to the five elements—pañcatvam gatah: sky will go to sky; air will go to air; like that. Everything will go to the five elements pañcatvam gatah. Like that, ātmā is anu sat-cid-ānanda, it will be sustained by sat-cid-ānanda. And it will go to sat-cid-ānanda. It is given in Taittiriya Upanishad,

yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante
yena jātāni jīvanti
yat prayanty abhisaṁviśanti
tad vijijṣasasva tad eva brahma
(Taittiriya Upanishad 3.1.1)

One should know about that Brahma from where everything has emanated and after annihilation everything will enter into Him only.

By ‘Brahma’ we generally think, ‘the formless’, ‘the impersonal’. Krishna has said in the Gita, brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham—I am the cause of the formless impersonal Brahma , Param-brahma’. If the cause has got no form then where from all these forms have come? Nothing cannot be the cause of something. If the ultimate cause is formless, where from all the forms have come? Ultimate cause has got form, but not like this material form. So, it is said in the scriptures ‘nirākāra’, but again it is said ‘sākāra’, both you have to take. ‘Nirākāra’ is in the sense He has got no material form, but He has got transcendental spiritual form. If the cause has got no form, we cannot see forms here, where you can get form? Form cannot be produced by formless.

Once I had been to North-east, Assam and there was a big meeting. Some dignitaries of the city were present there. There were president, chief guest, etc. The Chief Guest was a professor. He spoke in detail. He said, “Ultimate Reality is formless, He has got no personal form, no potency or attributes. If there be form, attribute, then He will become finite, matter. But we as conditioned souls of this world cannot meditate or think about formless, impersonal Brahma without qualities. So that formless impersonal Brahma, by accepting sattva-guṇa, He has become ‘Ishwar’. Whether Krishna, Rama, Nrisimha, or Kali, Durga, whatever we may say, we have to concentrate there. Ultimately there will be no Durga, no Kali, no Ganapati, no Krishna, no Rama. All will merge in the formless.” Then I have been requested to give a vote of thanks. (Laughter) Then I said, “Thank You. I am grateful to hear good, very learned lecture, speech of the respectable chief guest but I have got one very insignificant question to ask you. You said Ultimate Reality has got no form, no attributes, no potency, nothing. Then how can He become ‘Ishwar’? How can He accept a form by accepting sattva-guṇa because He is impotent? He has got no potency so He can do nothing. How you say that impersonal, formless, quality-less, activity-less, potency-less, impotent can become ‘Ishwar’ by accepting sattva-guṇa? He can do nothing. In this world also, will you go to a person who has got no qualification, who can do nothing? You say, “Supreme Lord is nothing? He is cipher. He has got no form, no potency, no attribute, nothing.” What is this? How from nothing, something can come? Therefore, this is not the fact.”

Once I had been to Sahranpur. I was taken there to a woman’s place who was very rich. I met her. She wanted to hear about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings and I spoke about the ‘acintya-bheda-abedha’ siddhanta, inconceivable simultaneous distinction and non-distinction. She was pursuing and sometimes she was smiling. After one hour she said, “This ‘bheda’ (distinction) is not good, there cannot be any kind of bheda. If there is bheda, that is māya. Brahma satya, jagat mithyā—only brahma is the fact and the rest of the whole world is false. Now, out of ignorance we are thinking we are human beings. When we get the knowledge, we shall merge in the Brahman. Soham soham, ahaṁ brahmāsmi—I am that Brahma”

And then I tried to explain the matter. But whenever I tried to explain, every time, she said, “Oh okay it is not of much importance, it is the only process. This bhakti-yoga is just a process, it is lower.”

Then I said, “All right. You are saying the whole world is false. Are you in the world or outside world? If you are in the world, you are also false. Whatever you are saying is also false.”

So, here Narada Goswami said, “You have not sung the glories of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. He is the Cause of all causes. He is Infinite Person. He has inconceivable power. As Ravindra Thakur (Ravindranath Tagore) said, simār madhye asim—though He is boundless, He accepts boundaries.” By outside He is in simā (boundary) as for example, Gopal, a small child of Yashoda Devi. All the gopa-gopis, milk-men and milk-women, they complained to Nanda Maharaj and Yashoda Devi, “You should be very careful about your son.”

“Why?”

“Your son is very naughty.”

“Naughty? No, my son is very good.”

“You see, how. When we sleep in the night, we keep a lamp light on so that no thief can enter. But your son Kanaiya, with other cowherd boys, in the mid-night enter into our house and by blowing the wind of the mouth extinguish the lamp and steal all the yogurt, butter, etc. What is this? If He desires anything, we can give. Why is He stealing?”

Nanda Maharaj is very much astounded and asks, “Kanaiya, have You done this?”

“No father, I have not done this. They are speaking a lie.”

Mother Yashoda asks, “Kanaiya, Have You visited the houses of the milk-men and milk-women to steal?”

“No, they are speaking a lie.”

Actually, Krishna is speaking truth because all the milk-women prepare yogurt, milk, butter etc. everything for the service of Krishna. But when they approach Nanda Maharaj and Yashoda Devi and request, “We want to feed your child, please send Him to our house.”

“No! I have got ten thousand cows. I am Nanda Maharaj, why should my son go to other houses to eat?” Yashoda Mata also refuses.

Krishna is bhakta-vatsala, always subdued by the pure devotion of His devotee, He is always eager to fulfill their desires. Krishna asks to His father, “I want to take the food prepared in such and such gopi’s house. Can I go?”

Nanda Maharaj says, “Oh! You have become greedy. You have got everything here. I cannot allow You to go.”

Then how to fulfil their desires? So He becomes a thief to fulfil their desire. That is the reason He said, “They are speaking a lie. They have prepared everything for Me. And I have gone there as a thief to fulfil their desire.”

One day Yashoda Mata saw herself that Kanaiya had broken the earthen pot of the yogurt when she went to put the pot of the milk down from the oven as the milk was boiling over. She was feeding Him but to put the milk pot down from the oven she kept Krishna down and went. He cried and got angry because He was hungry, and for mother, that the work is more important than feeding Him, He decided to destroy the earthen pots of yogurt. The earthen pots there with yogurt, butter etc. He destroyed everything. Yashoda Mata had got some sort of fear that perhaps Krishna is naughty, He may do something wrong here. So she had kept all the other pots in the ceiling of the roof hanging so that this small child cannot reach. But Krishna saw those pots and thought to destroy them also. He mounted on the mortar, but could not touch. Krishna had showed brahmanda in His mouth. Can He not touch the earthen pots? This is His pastime. He took the help of a stick and started breaking all pots and the butter, yogurt is falling down. Krishna is eating it and also feeding all the monkeys, surrounding there. When Yashoda Mata returned, she saw everything was destroyed. She thought, “What is this? Where is Kanaiya? He has become very naughty. If I do not mend Him, discipline Him, His future will be bad.” Then she took a stick and was searching Him. She saw Krishna mounting over the mortar and doing these entire nuisances. He is going to other houses to steal; if I do not punish Him then His future will be bad. Out of affection, she does not see Him as Supreme Lord, she sees Him as her small child. She went there and was about to catch hold of Him, at that time Krishna saw His mother and leaped from the mortar and ran. Yashoda Mata started running behind Him. But she is very fat and the small boy is running very fast. It is very difficult to chase Him. She was sweating, but she had taken the decision to catch hold of the child and to beat and punish Him, otherwise His future will be destroyed. She thought she should see His future because she is His mother.

Nobody can catch Krishna. But being subdued by the motherly affection of Yashoda, He started running slow so she can catch Him. And then the mother caught Him and showed Him the stick, “You are going to other houses to do all these nuisance, I shall beat You.” But by seeing the stick Krishna is loudly crying. God of death is afraid of Krishna. All the demigods Brahma, Mahadeva and all the others, even Baladeva who is with His ten forms serve Krishna. And the same Supreme Lord Sri Krishna is weeping and crying. By seeing that, Yashoda Devi thought, “If this child flees from this place, then I shall die. He is my most beloved child, small boy. He has got no sense, so what is the use of beating Him? It is not good to beat a small boy.” She threw that stick outside and took the child on her lap and was trying to pacify him. He is a small child, I shall only tie Him, fasten Him. Then by measuring the belly she brought one rope and tried to tie Him. It became two fingers too short, what is this, I have taken the measurement. And again she brought another rope and joined it and tried to fasten Him, but again it was two fingers short. She brought another rope, another rope like that and by that the rope became so long, from here to St. Raphael’s where we stay, so long but she cannot fasten the child. Why? He seems to be a small boy, but He is Infinite, nobody can tie Him. Mother is tired but she has made up the mind that she would fasten Him. She is so much tired and sweating, all the flowers from her hair are falling down. All the other gopis are laughing seeing the mother unable to fasten the small child. By seeing the tiredness of mother and her strong desire to fasten Him, Krishna thinks, “If I accept to be fastened then mother would be delighted.” Subdued by motherly affection He accepted to be tied and that by the first rope He gets fastened. How has it happened? Earlier, every time she added a rope, but it became two fingers too short, not one finger or three fingers or four fingers. One finger is His grace, without which nobody can get Him, but to attract His grace, the aspirant, the votary, the devotee should have devotion. Yashoda Devi was tired but she has not given up her endeavour and ultimately Krishna accepted to be tied, like that. One finger is His grace; another finger is our sincere effort to serve Vaishnava, Guru and Bhagavān.

Narada Goswami said, “Whatever you have given in Mahabharat, in Gita about Krishna, is for getting emancipation, not for the satisfaction of Krishna. So you are not satisfied.” You are from Krishna, you are in Krishna, you are by Krishna and you should remain for Krishna. If Krishna is satisfied then you will be satisfied. In Sanskrit it is called ‘moksha prakarane’—“With the motive of getting emancipation, you have sung His glories not for His satisfaction.” As per example, this hand is coming out of this body. Why is the hand there? For the use of the body, it is in the body, the hand is maintained by the body. The hand should remain for the body, if it remains for the body, then if body is satisfied, the hand will have satisfaction or enhancement. If the hand is in conflict with the body and thinks, “I can take initiative, I shall be independent, I shall not cooperate with the body, this stomach is only sitting and eating, I shall not co-operate.” Like the non-cooperation movement that Mahatma Gandhi made in India. Then, all of you, or all the doctors even, cannot help you if your hand is in non-cooperation with your body, cannot give satisfaction to the hand. The hand is coming out from the body; you have to see its constitutional position. Hand is from the body, is in the body, is by the body and it should remain for the body. If body is satisfied, the hand is satisfied. Independent of the body the hand cannot have any satisfaction. All the jivas are coming out of the Supreme Lord Krishna, they are in Krishna, and they are by Krishna. If they remain for Krishna, Krishna is satisfied and then all the jivas are satisfied. You have to sing the glories for the satisfaction of Krishna. He (Narada Goswami) gave him (Vedavyasa) ‘catuḥ-ślokī’, and by meditating upon them he wrote Bhagavatam, the twelve Cantos of Bhagavatam and he got eternal peace.

Bhakti-yoga, even if you are to understand Gita, Vedavyasa Muni has written in Garuda Purana, “You have to understand Gita in the light of Srimad Bhagavatam.”

artho 'yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇāṁ
bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ
gāyatrī-bhāṣya-rūpo 'sau
vedārtha-paribṛṁhitaḥ
(Chaitanya Charitamtra Madhya 25.143-144)

The meaning of the Vedanta-sutra is present in Srimad-Bhagavatam. The full purport of the Mahabharata is also there. The commentary of the Brahma-gayatri is also there and fully expanded with all Vedic knowledge.

He has written Vedanta and in Garuda Purana he is saying, you are to know the significance of the Vedanta then you can know it through my explanation of Vedanta that is Bhagavatam. You go through Bhagavat to know the Vedanta. Artho 'yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇāṁ bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ—the significance of the teachings of Mahabharat and Gita is determined in Srimad Bhagavatam. You have to understand Gita in the light of Srimad Bhagavatam, otherwise you cannot understand the actual teachings of Gita. You will not be able to understand what Krishna wants to say to you. You have to enter into His heart through bhakti, Bhagavatam. The commentary of Kāma-gayatri is Bhagavatam. The meaning of all the Vedas are maintained and increased in Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam is Bhakti-yoga. In Gita you will also find Krishna has made a comparison study in the sixth chapter. He says;

tapasvibhyo adhiko-yogī
gyanijñānibhyo 'pi mato 'dhikaḥ
karmibhyaś cādhiko yogi
tasmād yogī bhavārjuna
(Bhagavad-gita 6.46)

A yogi is superior to those who perform immense penance. A yogi is superior to a gyani, gyanis are superior to karmis. So, automatically a yogi is superior to a karmi. Gyanis want to merge themselves in the formless brahman, but some yogis want to merge in the Paramatma. Krishna says, “You become a yogi.” And after that He says;

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
mad-ātmāgatenāntar-ātmanā
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ
sa me yuktatamo mataḥ
(Bhagavad-gita 6.47)

Krishna says, “According to My opinion, amongst all kinds of yogis, karma-yogi, gyana-yogi, hata-yogi, one who worships Me with firm faith, fully surrendering unto Me, is the highest.”

All kinds of yogis—hata yogi, raja yogi, there can be many kinds of yogis, yoginām is plural, sarveṣāṁ, double plural, all kinds of yogis. “Those who worship Me, Me means My personal form with which I am talking to you, with firm faith is superior.” General thinking is that Krishna is a super-human being, a great politician, He is a great diplomat, like that, but it is written in the Gita, Bhagavān Uvāca—Bhagavān speaks. Param Pujyapad Swami Maharaj says, “Who is Bhagavān? One who possesses totality of six-fold opulances, immense opulances, infinite opulances, not just six-fold, He is called Bhagavān.”

One person came to Param Pujyapad Swami Maharaj and said, “You are saying that there is God. I do not believe in God.”

Then Swami Maharaj said, “Who has given you the power to say I don’t believe God? When the strength of speech has been taken away from you, can you say, “I don’t believe God”? How long will this vanity will be there?”

He is controlling everything. He is regulating. He says in Gita,

mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat
ki ñcid asti dhana ñjaya
mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ
sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva
(Bhagavad-gita 7.7)

“There is nothing superior to Me, everything, everyone who is ever linked to Me. Everything is dependent on Me, nothing can be detached from Me.”

And again He says,

yasmāt kṣaram atīto 'ham
akṣarād api cottamaḥ
ato 'smi loke vede ca
prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ

“I am beyond the comprehension of the sense organs, the subtle and the gross sense organs of the conditioned souls of this world, and I am supremely superior to Brahma and Paramātmā and so I am designated as Purushottam. Purushottam Jagannath, Purushottam Krishna, Purushottam Mahaprabhu.

Our Pujyapad Radhanath Swami in our Ramadas Prabhu’s house performed a kirtan first. We heard that Sachinandan, Jagannath and Krishna are identical, only Their pastimes are different. He talked very nicely.

In the eleventh Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, when Navayogendra, nine Munis, the youngest sons of Rishabha Deva, maha-bhagavat Vaishnavas set their holy footprints in sacrificial site of Videha Raja Nimi, King Nimi who is the emperor of the whole world stood up and made obeisances and worshiped their Lotus feet. After worshiping and feeding them, he put nine questions to them. First he said,

śrī-videha uvāca
manye bhagavataḥ sākṣāt
pārṣadān vo madhu-dvisaḥ
viṣṇor bhūtāni lokānāṁ
pāvanāya caranti hi
(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2.28)

“You are direct personal associates of Madhusudhan Krishna. The devotees of Lord Vishnu go from one place to another for the ultimate welfare of the conditioned souls.”

He did not say, “Why you have come? I have not invited you.” It is said,

mahānta-svabhāva ei tārite pāmara
nija kārya nāhi tabu yāna tāra ghara
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 8.39)

Mahabhagavat Vaishnavas have nothing to get in this world, they go from one place to another, one person to another person to rescue them.

The King said, “I have not invited you but you have come by the quality of your compassion to rescue us.”

durlabho mānuṣo deho
dehināṁ kṣaṇa-bhaṅguraḥ
tatrāpi durlabhaṁ manye
vaikuṇṭha-priya-darśanam
(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2.29)

The human body is most difficult to achieve and it can be lost at any moment. Even more difficult is to get the darśan of pure devotees who are dear to the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha.

This human birth is a very precious birth. After passing through eighty lakhs of species, we can get this human birth; it is stated in Vishnu Puran. By creating this human birth, human body, Supreme Lord is satisfied. In this human body one can worship Supreme Lord. Because we have got the discriminating power, we can distinguish between good and bad, eternal and non-eternal and they can accept eternal thing, but other living beings have got no such capacity to understand. That is why this human birth is a special birth. Therefore, this birth is meant only for the worship of the Supreme Lord. But it will not remain for long, any moment we may lose this life. And it is further difficult to get ‘vaikuṇṭha-priya-darśanam’. Vaikuṇṭha is transcendental abode of Supreme Lord, Vaikuṇṭha-priya are all the personal associates of Him. They are also Vaikuṇṭha, they are also transcendental. Devotees are worshiping the transcendental, how can they become mundane? They are also transcendental. So it is very difficult to get a śuddha-bhakt, it is not so easy. A śuddha-bhakt, sadguru is very difficult to get. Mahadeva has said to Parvati,

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

“You will find so many so called gurus who squeeze money from the disciples but gurus who remove the afflictions, miseries and give eternal bliss to the disciples are rare to be found.”

If you want quality you cannot get quantity. One good character person in San Francisco can do immense good to all, and if all are characterless, they themselves have got no benefit, and they cannot do benefit to anybody else. We have to think about the quality and not quantity. If you want quality then you will not get quantity. It is said in Bhagavatam;

muktānām api siddhānāṁ
nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ
sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā
koṭiṣv api mahā-mune

Amongst all the emancipated and realized souls who have taken absolute shelter to Narayana, such a pure devotee is rarely to be found, almost nil, very difficult.

(But if you find such guru) What sort of question should you ask?

śrī-rājovāca
yathaitām aiśvarīṁ māyāṁ
dustarām akṛtātmabhiḥ
taranty añjaḥ sthūla-dhiyo
maharṣa idam ucyatām
(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.3.17)

King Nimi asked, “O great sage, please explain how even a foolish materialist can easily cross over the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord, which is insurmountable for those who are not self-controlled.”

Addressing the nine Munis, Videha Raja Nimi asked one question about, yathaitām aiśvarīṁ māyāṁ—daivi māyā, illusory energy of three primal qualities, the external potency by which living beings are created, maintained and ultimately destroyed. We are all subdued by all the sense organs. We are the slave of sense organs (ajitendriya); we are not the master of sense organs (jitendriya). And we have got this false ego that I am this body, sthūla-dhi, sthūla—this material body. Who am I? I have got false ego that I am this material body. I am an ignorant person, dunderhead. How can I surmount this ocean of births and deaths? When I was in my mother’s womb, there was so much trouble. The baby remains in the mother’s womb with stooping head and hips up, and when the worms bite, the baby cannot redress, so much trouble. Sometimes the little child faints and submits prayers to Supreme Lord, “O Supreme Lord! I cannot tolerate this; after I shall be born I shall not forget You.” And after birth, again by getting the affection of parents and others, he forgets what he has said at the time when he was there in mother’s womb that he will worship the Supreme Lord. As long as you remain in this world there will be three fold afflictions, afflictions caused by the diseases of the body, affliction caused by the separation grief of near and dear ones (adhyatmik klesha), afflictions caused by other living beings (adi-bhautik). Now in this Kaliyuga, in the black age, we face danger from our own species, more than from other species. The ferocious animals eat for their lively-hood; they do not kill anybody unnecessarily. They are not like human beings. What are the human beings doing? Without any enmity, without any connection, they are killing. What sort of people? Human beings have become our greatest enemy. There are afflictions by other living beings and afflictions by natural calamities (adi-daivik), like it happened recently in Gujarat, the earthquake in which many lost lives. And also there may be epidemics like plague in Surat or Saurastra. Then in the whole of India they are cleaning everything, all cities are cleaned, and all are afraid of Plague. Pakistan said, “No planes will land here from India otherwise plague will come to us.” Then no military is required, by plague all can be destroyed. Also, there can be earthquakes, epidemics, floods and inundations, drought, all these things, and at the time of death so much sufferings. Nimi Maharaj says, “Please, kindly be pleased. We are all dunderheads. We have got no knowledge. Please advise us, what is the easiest way, how to cross over this ocean of material existence?”

In our Ayurveda, doctors who treat by herbs etc. at first they give purgative. For any illness they first give a purgative to clear your system, your stomach and after that they will give medicines. Here also, Prabhuddha Muni, who was about to reply to Nimi Maharaj’s question, has first been given a purgative. What is that?

śrī-prabuddha uvāca
karmāṇy ārabhamāṇānāṁ
duḥkha-hatyai sukhāya ca
paśyet pāka-viparyāsaṁ
mithunī-cāriṇāṁ nṛṇām
(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.3.18)

Conditioned souls in the pursuits of happiness perform different activities like marriage and beget children but as the end results they get distress only instead of happiness.

In this world every person is trying to get happiness and remove miseries. When, by his single effort, he is unable to get happiness and remove miseries and wants, then he marries. Then by the help of the wife he shall try to remove the afflictions and to get happiness. But by the help of the wife he is unable to get happiness and remove distress. He is greatly dejected. If I get one child, another child, a daughter, by getting limited company of five members in the family they try to get happiness and remove afflictions. But they get just the reverse. I think if I get a beautiful wife then I shall be happy, and I marry. But those who are married they come to us and say, “Oh, I committed a great mistake.” They are also repenting, and I am not married so I am also repenting, “What sort of ānanda, bliss, happiness do they have by getting a beautiful wife.” Thinking so I feel, I have committed a mistake by not marrying. Those who are married they also say, “I have committed a mistake.” They think, “If I get a son then I shall be happy. No. If the son is married and daughter-in-law comes then I will be happy.” But with daughter-in-law, son leaves the family. Everywhere you will find like this. Then he thinks, “If I get a grand-son then I will be happy.” It is like a mirage in the dessert, you see from a distance that there is water, but actually that is an optical illusion. The Sun’s rays fall in the dessert in the sand which from a distance is seen like water. You are seeing māyā. Why are you seeing māyā? Because you are averse to Sri Krishna. If you want actual happiness, then Prabhuddha Muni said,

nityārtidena vittena
durlabhenātma-mṛtyunā
gṛhāpatyāpta-paśubhiḥ
kā prītiḥ sādhitaiś calaiḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.3.19)

Wealth is a perpetual source of distress. It is also difficult to acquire. It is like death to the soul. And what permanent happiness is one going to get from his non-eternal relations like wife, children etc.?

There are many other things said there, but I have no time. But I should say,

tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta
jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ
brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam
(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.3.21)

“Therefore, one should surrender and inquire about the highest welfare to a spiritual master who is well versed in the purports of all the scriptures and one who has taken absolute shelter at the Supreme Lord leaving aside all the material attachments.”

As long as you have got the vanity that, ‘I can remove my afflictions and I can get bliss so long’, you will be enveloped by the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord. You do not know your eternal welfare. When you are diseased, can you treat yourself? You have to go to a special doctor, a specialist doctor.

You go and say, “I have got this trouble.”

Doctor might say, “You have got trouble so you see, why you have come to me?”

“I do not know anatomy, you know anatomy, please examine me, I do not know what sort of disease I have got.”

I have got the disease so I have to go to the doctor to get treated. If the diagnose is correct and doctor will give actual, right medicine and right diet then you will recover from the disease. This births, death and three-fold afflictions are all diseases.

Therefore, it is said, tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta—you have to take shelter of the spiritual master and jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam—ask about eternal welfare and not for mundane benefits of this world, for that you should not go to the spiritual doctor Guru. Enquire from him about the eternal welfare. And what are the qualities of Guru? ‘śabda-brahma, niṣṇātaṁ para-brahma niṣṇātaṁ’ — he must have scriptural knowledge. When anybody will submit to him for eternal welfare, Guru may instruct him by reasoning, but reasoning is not sufficient, he should substantiate it by scriptural evidence. Then it will be firm. So, he should have scriptural knowledge. And also, in Manduka Upanishad it is said, ‘tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham'. He should be śrotriyaṁ (one meaning of it is, having scriptural knowledge) and another meaning of it is that, the knowledge he has, must be received from the preceptorial channel, from Supreme Lord. There is no one equal to Supreme Lord, no one superior to Him. Without His grace nobody can know Him. His first creation is Brahma, Brahma tried to know where from he had come and where to go. Thousands of years he tried but he could not understand. So then Krishna gave him mantra, taught Gayatri mantra and instructed, “You perform penance and you will get everything.”

You will find in Sri Chaitanya Charitamrit, Madhya lila, nineteenth Chapter,

vṛndāvanīyāṁ rasa-keli-vārtāṁ
kālena luptāṁ nija-śaktim utkaḥ
sañcārya rūpe vyatanot punaḥ sa
prabhur vidhau prāg iva loka-sṛṣṭim
(Chaitanya Charitamrit Madhya 19.1)

As the Supreme Lord imparted the knowledge to Brahma before creation, similarly, being eager to revive the Vrindavan pastimes of the Lord, He impregnated the heart of Rupa Goswami with spiritual energy.

An illustration has been given. When Brahma, the creator of all the living beings in this world, could not know where from he has come, then Krishna imparted that knowledge to him, ‘sambandha, abhideya and prayojana’. Who am I? What am I? What relation I have got with the Supreme Lord, and what is the real sādhan, and the ultimate goal? You will find it in Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita written by Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami,

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

Krishna-prema (the love towards Krishna) is the ultimate. How can we get it? By Bhakti, Bhakti-Yoga, and there is no other way. If you want to increase love in this world, you have to love somebody, by loving you can increase love. By any other effort you cannot increase love. By loving propensity you can increase love for Krishna, by loving Him. He is the only object of love because He has got no interest. Here in this world if you love someone, ultimately you shall have to repent, frustration will come. As long as you can fulfil his desire so long you are loved. When you are not able to fulfil his desire you will be given up. In this world love is selfish. There (in that world) Krishna has actual love for them. Those who are fortunate, they love Krishna. And for loving Krishna, for getting Krishna in this Kaliyuga, the easiest way is to call Him. A very naughty small boy, always doing some mischief, his mother is very much upset, says to him to get out, remain outside. And the child in the middle of the road cries calling his mother, “Mummy! Mummy!” Then the mother forgets everything and goes to him and takes him. Like that you have also committed offences and come to this world. If you cry from the core of the heart, calling ‘Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna’, ‘ha Krishna ha Govinda ha Krishna ha Nityananda, ha Gauranga’, whatever one could get in Satya-yuga by meditation, whatever one could get in Treta-yuga by oblation, and in Dvapara-yuga by worship of Deities, everything you will get in Kaliyuga by Harinama. And this Harinama is there in every Yuga, He is tārak-brahma. Tārak-brahma is one by which one can be rescued. In Satya-yuga tārak-brahma may be different, i.e. ‘nārāyaṇa parā-vedā nārāyaṇa parākṣara nārāyaṇa parā-mukti nārāyaṇa-parā gatiḥ’. They used to do this Mahamantra to get deliverance from the clutches of māyā. In Treta-yuga also there is Mahamantra ‘rāma nārāyaṇa-ananta mukunda madhusudan kṛṣṇa kesava kaṁsāre hare vaikuntha vāman’. In Dvapara, ‘hare murāre madhu-kaitabhāre gopāla govinda mukunda śaure yajnesh nārāyaṇa kṛṣṇa viśnu nirasrayam mām jagadīsh rakṣa’ and in Kaliyuga ‘hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare’.