On this auspicious day, we should remember Baladeva, who is the manifestation of the Supreme Lord, who is Supreme Lord Himself but acting as a Guru. Today is Lord Baladeva’s rāsayātra. There is no difference between Krishna and Baladeva. There are not many Gods. God is one, the difference is only in pastimes. Despite being God, Baladeva performs the pastimes of a Guru. The form that the Lord Himself accepts for His service and to instruct others is Dauji (Balaram). Without His grace the Supreme Lord is not attained. We should remember Him today. Although we should remember Him every day, remembering Him on special occasions is more beneficial. Today is also the Vasant rāsa of Sri Krishna.

Today, while I was coming for Harikatha, a person asked me a question in English, though he is from India -

"I have seen many sādhu, many devotees but nobody could attract me. Nor had I got any sort of attraction towards them. What is this?"

Then I said to him—

“I am giving you an illustration. Have you heard the name magnet? What is the nature of a magnet? A magnet attracts iron. And what is the nature of iron? Iron’s nature is to be attracted by a magnet. If magnet and iron are there and the magnet is not attracting the iron and iron is not being attracted by magnet, then where is the defect? Is there any defect with the magnet? No, there is no defect in the magnet. Defect is there in the iron. There is rust over it. Dirt has enveloped the iron. The defect is in iron, not in the magnet. Due to the rust, the nature of the magnet to attract the iron and the nature of the iron to be attracted towards the magnet, is not seen there. When the rust will be removed, its nature will come up. Similarly, Krishna is like a magnet and those who have made the appearance of Krishna in their hearts, are also like magnets. Actual devotees, pure devotees are like magnets. They even attract Krishna.

śrī-kṛṣṇākarṣiṇī ca sā
(Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.1.17)

The devotees are there, the Supreme Lord, in the form of deity is there and I am also there but why am I not feeling any attraction? Because there is a defect in me. There is dirt present in my mind in the form of evil ideas and thoughts. How can that be removed? By the association of Bonafide sādhu. Then iron will run towards the magnet and magnet will attract iron. (Likewise we will get attracted towards Krsna). So, where is the defect?

We blame others and think that this sādhu does not have that special quality to attract me. Even if being pulled, we will not experience that pull. There is no defect in the magnet. Which scientist would say that the defect is in the magnet? The defect is in the iron. It has rusted. Our hearts have also been rusted. That is why devotees and the Lord are not attracting us. How can we remove that rust? When someone is polluted himself, how can he remove those impure ideas from his heart? We should associate with a bonafide sadhu. We will not follow a sadhu, we will not associate with a sadhu, and we think that our heart will become pure. How will the heart become pure? It cannot.

Today, we should remember Balaram, Balaram is a magnet. Today, we must also remember Krishna. Krishna is a magnet. What attracts a magnet? That is a supermagnet. Who is this magnet? This magnet is Sri Vamshivadan Thakur. Who is he? He is Krishna's flute in Krishna's pastimes, he himself appeared as Vamshivadan Thakur in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's pastimes. Who is Sachi Mata? She is Yashoda Devi. Vishnupriya Devi is the energy of Gaura-Narayana, His pure devotee. The relationship between Sriman Mahaprabhu and Vishnupriya Devi is not any other husband-wife relationship, it is a transcendental relationship. In the pastimes of Lord Ramchandra, during the Ashvamedha yajña when Sita Devi was in exile the sages told Sri Ramchandra that he would have to perform the yajña with his energy (wife), and would have to remarry, Ramchandra refused to marry again. He performed the yajña by creating a golden form of Sita Devi. To repay that debt, Sita Devi, in the Gaura-lila, worshipped a golden statue of Gauranga Mahaprabhu in the form of Vishnupriya Devi. All the pastimes are related, so our Guruvarga explains.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had arranged everything even before taking sannyasa. He thought that when I take sannyasa and leave, Sachi Mata and Vishnupriya Devi will have a separation grief. How will they bear that grief? Therefore, Sriman Mahaprabhu appointed Sri Vamshivadan Thakur as the protector-servant of Sri Sachi Mata and Sri Vishnupriya Devi.

Vaṁśī drinks the nectar of Krishna's lips. Therefore, the gopis say, who is as fortunate as the vaṁśī? It is not like the flute of this material world which is without consciousness. There, in the spiritual realm, everything is conscious. Vaṁśī can move; vaṁśī can talk and do everything. That vaṁśī has appeared as Vamshivadan Thakur in the Gaura-lila to fulfil the desires of Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Supreme Lord thinks about His devotees. So vaṁśī appeared to console Sachi Mata and Vishnupriya Devi.

That same vaṁśī, by the sound of which Krishna attracts everyone in Vamshivata, and even the Yamuna starts to flow in the opposite direction, what will not be attained by the association of the words of that Srila Vamshivadan Thakur?

Today is also the appearance day of our former Guru, Sri Shyamananda Prabhu. Although his name is not mentioned in the Guru-parampara, we remember Shyamananda Prabhu. Shyamananda Prabhu is a friend of Dauji. There are twelve principal friends, who are called the dvādaśa Gopal. Among them, one principal friend is Subal sakhā. That same Subal sakhā is Gauridasa Pandit in Gaura-lila. Subordinate to him is Hridayananda Prabhu (Hridaya Chaitanya) and subordinate to Hridayananda Prabhu is Shyamananda Prabhu. Shyamananda Prabhu appeared in the village of Dharendra Bahadurpur, on the banks of the Suvarna Rekha river near Kharagpur, taking shelter of his mother Srimati Durika and father Sri Krishna Mandal. From childhood, he was intoxicated with love for Krishna and devoted to his parents. His parents were also devotees. His mother advised him to take initiation into the Krishna mantra from a bonafide Guru. Understanding his parents' intention, he said that he would go to Ambika Kalna and take initiation from Hridaya Chaitanya Prabhu. He had already decided to take the mantra from him. His Guru also knew that he will come. He took the mantra from Hridaya Chaitanya. As his name was Dukhi (sad), after taking initiation from Hridaya Chaitanya Prabhu, his name became Dukhi Krishnadas.

Later he went to Vraja Dhama. In Vraja Dhama, he had the association of Sri Jiva Goswami, one of the six Goswamis. Jiva Goswami is a maidservant (Vilasa Manjari) of the mādhurya rasa of Sri RadhaKrishna. Due to the association and service of Sri Jiva Goswami, his inclination developed towards madhurya rasa. Did he then abandon his Guru, Hridaya Chaitanya? No.

It is not proper to think so. When one renders superior service, the Guru also feels happy. When his Hridaya Chaitanya Prabhu received this news, he was very pleased. Dāsya rasa (servitude) is superior to shānta rasa (neutrality); in shānta rasa, there is devotion to Krishna and renunciation from enjoyment, while in dāsya rasa, there is a sense of belonging. In sākhya rasa (friendship), there is a feeling of intimacy and great trust and in vātsalya rasa (parental love), there is affection. Kānta rasa (madhura rasa) includes all the rasas like sānta, dāsya, sākhya, and vātsalya. The best service is the service of Sri RadhaKrishna by the gopis in kānta rasa.

Sri Hridaya Chaitanya Prabhu was very pleased when his disciple attained such authority. What is the aim? To serve the Lord. By the association of Sri Jiva Goswami, his love for Sri RadhaKrishna awakened. He used to sweep the rāsa maṇḍala in Vamshivat to serve Sri RadhaKrishna. We see Vamshivat and rāsa maṇḍala, but we do not have such feelings. That is a spiritual realm. One day, Shyamananda Prabhu was ecstatically cleaning the rāsa maṇḍala of Vrindavan with a broom when, by the special grace of Radharani, he found an anklet from Radharani's lotus feet there. Shyamananda Prabhu touched that anklet to his forehead with great joy, due to which a tilaka shaped like the anklet appeared on his forehead. From this incident, the practice of wearing the nupur tilaka (anklet tilaka) began in Shyamananda Prabhu's lineage, Vaishnava sampradāya. Hearing this incident, Sri Jiva Goswami felt great joy and said to Dukhi Krishnadas, "You are giving happiness to Radha Shyamasundara. Therefore, from today your name is Shyamananda.” Jiva Goswami gave him the name Shyamananda.

Shyama is Krishna; He is a magnet and the one who attracts even that magnet is Shyamananda; his appearance can occur anywhere. When we pray, there is no covering over the Vaikuntha realm. Therefore, on this auspicious day, we offer our innumerable obeisances at the lotus feet of Sri Vamshivadan Thakur, at the lotus feet of Sri Shyamananda Prabhu, and because I haven’t seen them, I have seen my Gurudev, who is non-different from them, I offer my respectful obeisances at the lotus feet of my Gurudev and we pray for their mercy so that they may forgive all our offenses and award us the service of their lotus feet and the service of their worshipable Lord.