käyena väcä manasendriyair vä
buddhyätmanä vänusåta-svabhävät
karoti yad yat sakalaà parasmai
näräyaëäyeti samarpayet tat
(SB 11.2.36)
Translation
In accordance with the particular nature one has acquired in conditioned life, whatever one does with body, words, mind, senses, intelligence or purified consciousness one should offer to the Supreme, thinking, “This is for the pleasure of Lord Näräyaëa.”
Radhanath Swami speaks on Rishab dev’s teachings of renunciation
Today we are reading from Srimad Bhagvatam, eleventh canto, chapter two. Herein Narada Muni is explaining to Vasudeva, the father of Lord Krishna, a beautiful narration in which the essential truths of spirituality are revealed. It describes how Maharaj Rishabdev who is the great incarnation of the Supreme Lord, took his birth in this world as a son of king Nabhi, who was the descendant of Ägnédhra, who was a descendent of Priyavrat and he ruled this world as a great king and spread the glories of devotional service in all directions. In order to set a proper example for all to follow what he achieved at a certain age in life, he wanted to show that we must detach ourselves from everything for the purpose of self realization. Although factually the Lord is the proprietor of everything and there is no reason for him to renounce anything because renunciation means to give up the misconceptions, that anything is for our own enjoyment. The renunciation of those who have less intelligence the impersonalists philosophers, their conception is to own nothing, to not claim any proprietorship to one’s body or to claim proprietorship to anything pertaining to this body and thus by disentangling oneself from the network of karmic activities which naturally comes about due to false identification, then we become free from suffering and we enter into the liberated state. But those who understand the absolute truth have come to the conclusion and the basis of the revealed scriptures, that everything is the property of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That Kåñëa is the enjoyer as he explains in the Bhagavad Gita
bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäà
sarva-loka-maheçvaram
suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà
jïätvä mäà çäntim åcchati
Different classes of illusioned men.
And therefore one who understands this principle and uses everything for Kåñëa’s service such a person can achieve peace ever lasting peace. There are two classes of illusioned beings in this world, one say that “We are completely distinct from God”, to the extent that either there is no God or that there is a God, but that God is so great, and so almighty and so omnipotent that you cannot possibly understand him. So therefore there’s no use trying to talk about him, there’s no question of trying to think about anything in relation to him, we should simply do our work and if you know if you do your work good and do your worship by being honest in this world and maintaining your responsibilities of family life very nicely, then you will get the mercy of God. So this is the conception that we are so distinct from God that we have nothing in common with God. He is so great that we might as well forget about him and just go on with our work in this world for sense gratification. And others they say “That there is no God”, so the conclusion is essentially the same that we should go on with our work in this world for the purpose of sense gratification. And there is another class who say that “We are one with God”, there is absolutely no difference between any of us and God and therefore if everything is God and we are God then why are we suffering? Then why do we have a separate existence? Then why are we entangled within the elements of this material creation and the only way to justify this could possibly be is to say that God is formless, you are ultimately formless and this whole world is just an illusion it’s just the dream, it never exited it doesn’t exist and it never will exist. And by somehow or other focusing yourself, focusing your mind on religious principles you can wake up from this illusion and merge again into the existence of the Supreme. But such a person cannot understand that everything is an emanation of the Supreme and everything has its purpose in the Supreme Lords will and this misconception is simply actually another form of illusion.
God can never forget that He is God.
As Srila Prabhupad would say, “God can never forget that He is God, God can never come under the potencies of his illusionary energy”. So there is no sense to this and such beings they may for sometimes through their speculations make many followers and they may achieve some powers but ultimately they have to come down again to materialistic activities because the nature of the soul is to love and beloved. And then in this conception of complete oneness there is no love and there is no lover and there is no object of love. So therefore Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has extracted the very essence of all the knowledge of the Vedas in his philosophy of Acintya Abheda bhed tattva and only by understanding this philosophy properly can we find real peace, real love and real intelligence that the spirit soul is simultaneously one with God and different. We are one in quality in the sense that we are emanations from him, in fact everything that exists is in one sense one with God even the elements of this material world, this material creation although it is the inferior energy it is emanating from Kåñëa, it is being controlled by Kåñëa in that sense it is one with Kåñëa. And the spirit soul also all the various jeevatmas and all the Eight million four hundred thousand species of life we are all emanations from Kåñëa and the scriptures explain that the one supreme absolute truth expanded himself into innumerable jeevatmas simply for the purpose of having exchanges of bliss and ecstasies with himself through his parts and parcels.
Radhanath Swami on Real happiness is in serving the Supreme Lord.
Like a ray of the sun is one with the sun in the same way we are one with God but we are infinitesimal, we are always subordinate to Kåñëa, he is Vibhu unlimited and we are Anu just a small portion of that unlimited existence and real renunciation is to understand this principle that our bodies, our minds, our families and everything that exists is meant for the pleasure of the Supreme Personality of God head and to utilize everything for that purpose, the purpose of this human form of life is specifically and especially is for self realization, it is not to continue the illusion that I am the enjoyer “You are not the enjoyer, you never will be and as long as you think you are you suffer” “but when you just recognize the truth that Kåñëa is the enjoyer and serve him for his enjoyment then in your natural state like a fish coming out of the land back into the water you can be freed, you can be liberated, you can be happy in devotional service. So the Supreme Personality of God head has nothing to renounce but when he comes to this world in his form of Rishabdev he renounced everything just to show us his example, that we should claim proprietorship over nothing and we should live our life only for self realization. But before he left he instructed his one hundred sons and the teachings of Rishabdev are one of the most important and instructive parts of all the Vedic literatures because although they were taking over the kingdom of the world and performing so many other duties without transcendental knowledge you cannot do in a way that will elevate yourself or others therefore the most important principle for anyone is to here the truth and live by the truth. Otherwise we do not know how to perform any duty in such a way that is beneficial to ourselves, so after speaking Bhagavad Dharma he installed his eldest son Bharat as the King of all of the world and from him this world came to be known as Bharatavarsha. And then nine of his sons he appointed to be the administrative heads Khshatriyas in charge of the nine islands of this earth and then eighty one of his sons became Brahmins and they performed yagya and lived according to perfect standards of Brahmnical behavior in devotion to the supreme and the nine remaining sons became sannyasis they travelled throughout the world simply seeing everything as Kåñëa’s energy, seeing the beauty of Kåñëa in everything. How?
Seeing Krishna in everything
How do we see the beauty of Kåñëa in everything? This is explained that just as a businessman because of his consciousness is so much engrossed in making money wherever he goes, whoever he sees he always naturally perceiving “What money can I make from this?” if a person very much addicted to business goes into the forest he will see, “Ha just this wood, if I were to buy this land and I could this wood and I could sell it as timber and then I could make so much profit or I could make it into a tourist resort and invite so many people and make so much money” Anywhere a business man goes, anyone he meets he is always thinking how to make money from this situation. And a person is very, very lusty wherever he goes he is always trying to look at some object of lust, he is always trying to fulfill it even if he goes to the forest he is wondering “When will someone come that I will look at” in the same way a devotee because he is trained to serve Kåñëa in every situation of life whatever he sees or whatever she sees, whatever we experience with our senses we naturally think “How could we utilize this situation for Kåñëa’s pleasure” if we are in a forest we think “Oh these beautiful flowers how wonderful Kåñëa has made them” and the variety of each leaf on each tree is just the majestic artistry of Kåñëa. So to be Kåñëa conscious means to see Kåñëa everywhere, to be always thinking of serving Kåñëa in every situation of life and this is the perfection of our consciousness.
Radhanath Swami explains “What is the real goal of life?”
So these nine yogendras they were travelling in this way and they came to the city of Videha and there they went and were greeted by the king his name was Maharaj Nimi, Maharaj Nimi understood that these great souls had come only for the purpose of enlightening him, so with great, great humility and devotion he greeted them and offered them sitting places and worshipped them and began to praise them that ,”Such great devotes as yourselves simply wander everywhere for the purpose of glorifying Kåñëa and helping others to understand the goal of life” and then he began to enquire “What is the supreme goal of life? What is the supreme occupation for everyone to do? And please tell me about devotional service to the Supreme personality of Godhead?” because we all know that on who is a pure devotee of the Lord is so dear to the Lord that the Lord himself gives his life for his devotee, “Tell me about this path of Bhakti” and of the nine yogendras each of them began to speak, first Kavi spoke and what we are reading today is one of the verses which he spoke. He explained when ones intelligence is disturbed by the false identification of this temporary world and this body there is only one possibility to free oneself from this condition and that is to whole heartedly take shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord Sri Kåñëa. And even ignorant people who are completely downtrodden without any culture, even they could easily cross over this ocean of material existence if they just adopt the practice of devotion as prescribed by Lord Kåñëa and take shelter of those devotees who are preaching Kåñëa consciousness then he explains that “One who excepts the process of devotional service to Kåñëa will never blunder on his path in this world even while running with eyes closed he will never trip a fall” And the acharyas explain in this regard that the scriptures are our eyes and if a person is properly situated in serving under the direction of a proper spiritual master, even if he does not know all of the details of the etiquette of the scriptures or all of the injunctions still he will achieve the ultimate destination because of his sincere efforts in the path of devotional service.
Be extremely careful of your association.
And he explains how the mind, the mind is always in a condition where it is in a dream state. Dream state means that we are not this body, we are not the proprietor of anything in relationship to this body or the enjoyer or the sufferer but we are dreaming in this way and devotional service is to wake oneself up from this dream and the natural way he explains by which this can be done is by always remembering Kåñëa, by offering all of our activities to Kåñëa and especially by hearing the glories of the Lord and chanting the holy names of the Lord, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare because by chanting Kåñëa’s divine names and hearing his glories in the association of devotees we appeal to the mercy of the Lord. It is very important to understand how to keep our lives pure through this process. A Vaisanava will never associate with people who are materialistic, never why? Because it is displeasing to Kåñëa a materialistic person is someone who is always influencing us by their very existence to forget Kåñëa. Therefore a devotee will associate with materialistic people only to the extent that, that person is likely to benefit by our presence and come to Kåñëa consciousness, only to the extent that it can be an offering to Kåñëa but otherwise we should be very, very careful because the strongest power of Maya comes to the association of persons who are too much attached to sense gratifications and irreligion in fact Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained,” That one who is desiring to cross over this ocean of birth and death to associate with materialistic people is more deadly then drinking poison willingly” At the same time a devotee must be very, very compassionate towards materialistic people but that compassion is not to allow them to degrade us but to uplift them and if there is no possibility of uplifting them then we must be in another place and if follow these principles and live a pure life in holy association then very quickly simply by hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord we become delivered from all of the false ego and everything that develops out from that false ego and we begin to experience real spiritual satisfaction and for one who is on this path of Bhakti it is explained, there is no impediment as long as we are sincere and sincerity means to simply adhere to the instructions and the advice of senior devotees of the Lord. No impediment in that even if we have no money, even if we have no education there’s no disqualification if we are simply sincere to please Kåñëa.
Beautiful offerings of Narasinghananda Bramachari to Lord Caitanya in his mind
In this regard there are many beautiful narrations when Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was travelling to Vrindavan he first came to Vidyanagar which is close to Navadweep and where hundreds of thousands of people came to see him. And from there he went to Kuliya, Kuliya is the place where he forgave the offences even of the greatest sinners and gave them all love of Kåñëa when they surrendered to him and then he began his journey again to Vrindavan and there was one devotee his name was Narasinghananda Bramachari and this devotee he was a bramachari. Bramachari means you have nothing if you have things you are not a Bramachari, if you have nothing then you are a Bramachari, providing you are always engaged in devotional service under the instructions of the higher devotees that is Bramachari. So this Narasinghananda Bramachari he was thinking that, “Let Lord Caitanya enjoy his journey to Vrindavan” so in his mind he sat down in meditation and in his meditation he wanted to decorate the roads in such a way for the Lord’s pleasure, so first of all he constructed a very, very wide beautiful road and on that road he very carefully bedecked with the most valuable precious jewels in all the world and then for the comfort of the Lord he brought flowers with no stems the soft as possible flowers and laid them over the jeweled road so it would be very soft and on both sides of the road he planted beautiful, beautiful Bakula trees fully blossoming with flowers. At certain intervals he excavated wonderful lakes with crystal clear waters, the water tasted sweeter then nectar and there were Lotus flowers and auspicious birds singing. And then he created very delightful breezes that would cool the Lord and in these breezes there were scents of all sorts of aromas of flowers and as Lord Caitanya was chanting the holy names and proceeding towards Vrindavan he actually saw the road all around him and the beautiful, beautiful excavations of Narasinghananda Bramachari. One may ask “How, How is this possible?”How the Lord is seeing with his eyes when it is all being constructed in the mind of his devotee, because for the Supreme Personality of Godhead he does not see like we see, he is transcendental as far as matter is concerned there is gross matter and subtle matter. Although Narasinghananda Bramachari was creating the whole road with subtle matter of the mind of in his intelligence, the Lord could see it everywhere, the Lord could smell the beautiful fragrances of the flowers, He could feel the wonderful softness of the decorated flowers on the road. Because for the Lord he accepts our devotion and that devotion is tangible, it is real it is not something that is an imagination. When we offer Kåñëa food or Bhogä on the alter he doesn’t take the milk, he doesn’t take the vegetables or the grains, he takes our devotion, he actually drinks it, he eats it and then if it is done sincerely, he enjoys it. And then the food that is left is Prasad and what is that Prasad, which means that Kåñëa has eaten the food directly and it is his remnants and he has endowed within that food his mercy, his grace and that grace will purify our hearts and awaken love of God within us. So Narasinghananda Bramachari was decorating the roads and he was sitting for many days completely engrossed in this service to the Lord and Lord Caitanya was enjoying it step by step by step and then Narasinghananda Bramachari he came to a point where he could not decorate the road any longer there Is nothing could be decorated, he did not understand why, he was trying very hard and then he told the devotees, “That the Lord will come to the place called Kanaynathashala and from there he will not proceed any further, he will come back to Jagganath Puri” and the devotees were struck with wonder,” How does he know this but then sure enough when Lord Caitanya came to Kanaynathashala just before that Sanatan Goswami told him you should not go with so many people actually although the Lord was seeing the road of Narasinghananda Bramachari everywhere he went he was dancing in transcendental ecstasy with his arms raised chanting the holy names Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare and people were so attracted to his chanting and his dancing that more and more people were coming to follow him and soon there were thousands and tens and thousands and then hundreds of thousands and there were millions of people following, no one could give up his association. People were leaving their homes, leaving their businesses, leaving their families, leaving everything just to follow the Lord and they were all just running, walking, dancing everyone was behind the Lord chanting the holy name Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare but Sanatan Goswami told him, “My dear Lord to go to Vrindavan with so many millions of people you will not enjoy the atmosphere it is a solitary place, better you go back to Puri and come to Vrindavan alone” so in Kanaynathashala Lord Caitanya decided that “Yes this is good advice” so he returned. This is the power of the meditation of Narasinghananda Bramachari.
Radhanath Swami on Narasinghananda Bramachari offering feast to the Lord in his mind
And there is another story in this regard one time Lord Caitanya he told the nephew of Sivananda sen, Srikanta sen “You go to Bengal and you told to the devotees, Do not come to Jagganath Puri this year because I am coming to Bengal” Every year all the nice devotees of Bengal would have a pilgrimage to Jagganath Puri and spent four months with Lord Caitanya and celebrate Rath yatra with him and so many other festivals. So when this news came to the devotees in Bengal that Lord Caitanya is coming here, they became very happy they were so over whelmed with joy and they were waiting, waiting for that day and he was expected come in the months of December and January. So Jagatananda pundit, Sivananda sen and the other devotees were simply waiting for the Lord to come and every day that went by they were becoming more and more disappointed because he did not come. And as the months were coming to an end they were becoming very much unhappy and one day Narasinghananda Bramachari came and he sat in his meditation and he told them that “The Lord, the Lord is in Panihati and tomorrow he is coming to your house Sivanda sen” so Sivanda sen and Jagatananda were very happy. So Narasinghananda Bramachari said “I will cook for him bring me the proper ingredients and the next morning he explained to Sivananda sen exactly what to bring and Sivananda sen brought all the ingredients and Narasinghananda Bramachari spent the whole morning cooking and he made very sabjis and cakes and grains and sweets and so many nice preparations and then he divided it into three parts because there were three deities on the altar , there was the deity of Jagganath, there was the deity of Lord Caitanya and Narasinghananda Bramachari himself was personally of devotee of Lord Narsinghadev so he made a plate for Lord Narsinghadev. And after putting it very nicely he came out of the temple and he began to offer it in his mind and then within his mind Lord Caitanya appeared with his beautiful, beautiful golden form as a sannyasi and he ate all the food on his plate and then he went and ate all the food on Lord Jagganath’s plate and then he went and ate all the food on Lord Narsinghadev’s plate and Narasinghananda Bramachari became very ecstatic to see this, tears were flowing from his eyes in transcendental love but at the same time he was very disturbed and he began to speak to the Lord in his meditation, “My Lord you have eaten your food that is very good and you have also eaten Lord Jagganath’s food that is also very good cause you are non different then Jagganath but you also ate Narsinghadev’s food and he is my master my Lord an if the master does not eat then how will the servant live” actually Lord Caitanya is also non different than Lord Narsinghadev but he was feeling this way out of his love. So then Lord Caitanya just smiled at him and left and went back to Panihati and then went back to Jagganath Puri and Sivananda sen saw that Narasinghananda Bramachari looked very unhappy he said ”Lord Caitanya came just as he promised he came to your house and he left he went back to Jagganath Puri already but the problem is he ate Narsinghadev’s food , so please get more ingredients so I can cook for Lord Narsinghadev “ So Sivananda sen could not understand what this all is but he understood one thing that Narasinghananda Bramachari was a very exalted soul , so he brought more food and Narasinghananda Bramachari cooked and offered it to Lord Narsinghadev and was very happy.
The Lord cannot resist the pure love of his devotees.
And the next year when all the devotees came to Jagganath puri Lord Caitanya said in front of all the devotees that “During the month of pausha January, December he said I came to Sivananda sen’s house and I ate so many nice sabjis and sweet cakes and grains that were cooked by Narasinghananda Bramachari such food I have never enjoyed before in my life” And when he spoke this Sivananda understood that actually Narasinghananda Bramachari had brought the Lord. So this is the power of bhakti that the devotion itself is so attractive when it is pure unmotivated that the Lord cannot resist from reciprocating from the love of his devotee. But that is not just a sentiment the love expressed by Narasinghananda Bramachari and other great souls are expressions of total surrender for the pleasure of the Lord and this is the ultimate goals we should aspire for in our lives.
Only the Supreme Lord can demonstrate the symptoms of Mahabhav.
One time the devotees came to Jagganath Puri and they came just on the day when there was a beautiful boat festival at a place called Narendra sarovar and the deity of Lord Jagganath the Vijay murti named Govinda comes out every year. And is put on a boat for the pleasure of the Lord it is said that this Govinda deity is non different from Jagganath himself and he comes out and then they put him on boat. And the devotees go into the water with the Lord and they have wonderful, wonderful festivities taking the Lord in so Many different places, let him sail in the sweet breezes of Narendra sarovar and meanwhile Lord Caitanya and all of the associates from Bengal were very happily swimming in the water and celebrating the glories of the Lord by chanting his holy names Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. After this Lord Caitanya arranged for them to all have nice Prasad and then he arranged for them all have nice places of residence to rest and it was arranged that the next morning they would all meet at Lord Jagganath’s temple. So they all came early, early morning and they saw the beautiful Darshan of Lord Jagganath and after this Lord Caitanya took everyone and asked them to have a wonderful Kirtan. And he divided the devotees into seven different groups and have a tumultuous Kirtan with all seven groups. And the devotees began to chant and as they were chanting Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was inducing them to chant louder and louder he was saying “Hari bol! Hari bol!” and then the devotees very, very loudly so loudly that it just completely covered the whole universe with the sound vibration they were all chanting the Hare Kåñëa Mahamantra ,Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. And then Lord Caitanya began to dance and as he danced in the middle all the seven groups came and gathered around him and he began to recite a beautiful verse that “Let me surrender to my head at the lotus feet of Lord Jagganath by singing and dancing in the temple of the Lord Jagmohan. And as he began to dance He covered everyone with his tears and his hairs began to stand up like the thorns of the shamuli tree and from each of the pours of his body was flowing incessantly both blood and perspiration in ecstasy and his voice was choked up and each of his teeth became separated from the others and they were all appearing chattering as if they were all going to fall out. And his body became very pale and started changing colors these are all symptoms of Mahabhav, symptoms of ecstasy that only the Supreme Lord himself can demonstrate and he was chanting and dancing and sometimes he would leap in the air and sometimes he would turn around and all the devotees were just struck with wonder. And they were all dancing along with him and king Prataprudra from a distant place was watching and all the queens were watching and soon the local town’s people, the shopkeepers everyone started gathering around and there were thousands chanting the holy name and dancing in transcendental love. This dancing went on for hours and hours and hours until it was the middle of the afternoon and then Nityananda prabhu he stopped all the Kirtan’s except one cause there were seven Kirtan’s and he told Swarupa Damodar to chant very softly and then he told Lord Caitanya “The devotees are very tired they are very fatigued you have to let them rest “so hearing this Lord Caitanya stopped the Kirtan after dancing throughout the whole day. And then he took his devotees and then they all went to the sea to take their baths and then they all took Prasad together and they all went back to their respective residences Lord Caitanya went to his home, the Gambhira and right in the doorway he laid down.
Govinda the perfect example of how to have pure devotional desires.
Now each day after Kirtan the Lords ser vent Govinda would massage the legs and the feet’s of the Lord but on this day he could not get in the room in order to massage the legs of the Lord because the Lord was just laying in the door way so the Lord was in his sleeping condition and Govinda said, ”My Lord please can you move so that I can massage you?” and Lord Caitanya said “I am too tired I cannot move “ and then Govinda after sometime he said “My Lord I want to massage your legs can you kindly move so I can come in the room?” and Lord Caitanya replied “I am too tired I cannot move” and then he said again “My Lord can you move for I can come in, I want to massage you?” and he said “Do it or don’t do it whatever your mind says” So at that time Govinda took a piece of cloth, the Lords own cloth and covered the Lords body with it and then he stepped over the body of the Lord to go into the room. And he began to massage his feet and massage his legs and massage his back and after about forty-five minutes Lord Caitanya woke up and he saw Govinda inside the room massaging him and Lord Caitanya said “Why are you still here, why have you not taken Prasad?” it was the policy of Govinda that he would not eat anything until after the Lord, he would not eat anything until after all of his seva was performed. After Lord Caitanya would take Prasad Govinda would massage him and then after massaging he would take the Lords remnants but on this day Lord Caitanya saw that he was still in the room so therefore he could not have taken his Prasad. He asked “Why have you not taken Prasad?” and Govinda said “Because you are laying in the pathway , I cannot get out of the door without stepping over you” and Lord Caitanya said “But you stepped over me to come in the room, so you could also step over me to go out of the room” and Govinda remained completely silent he said nothing but in his mind he was thinking “That my Lord I stepped over so that I could serve you and I am willing to commit unlimited offences, I am willing to go to hell if that will serve you and please you but I am very, very fearful to commit even the slightest shadow of an offense for myself .” In this way Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu specially performed this pastime just to show pure desires of his devotees and one who has this devotional mood that I am for Kåñëa, I am for Kåñëa’s pleasure such a person there is no impediment for his pleasing the Lord in every situation of life. The path of Devotional service is meant to bring us to this stage of consciousness which is the natural constitutional position of the soul. Anything less than this we have to remain birth after birth after birth in this material world. We should utilize each moment of our life to progressively advance in this process of purifying our hearts. Purifying the heart means to give up the idea that I am the enjoyer and to develop the feeling that I am the servant and this humility is the greatest strength in all of creation because it is this humility of service that attracts the power of Kåñëa the Supreme personality of Godhead to protect us and to carry us over all obstacles
ananyäç cintayanto mäà
ye janäù paryupäsate
Krsna says in the Gita that “For those who are my devotees I will preserve what they have and I will carry what they lack”. Kåñëa is a person and we must learn to approach him as a person and that person has appeared within his name, that person has appeared within the sound vibration of his pastimes and his teachings and especially that person is manifesting himself through his devotees.
Radhanath Swami on Sincerity of our desires is what the Lord wants.
If we learn to respect and honor the Lord in his devotees and we learn to chant and hear the glories of the Lord amongst them then we can experience Kåñëa always in our lives. The beautiful deities of Sri, Sri RadhaGopinath are the center of our activities within the temple. It is through the glorious Lord who has appeared in this form that we can completely focus our minds and attention and we can work cooperatively for his pleasure. When devotees cooperate together this is most pleasing to the Lord and he will bestow his greatest blessings when he sees this. Devotees must work together to deliver the compassion of the Lord, the mercy of the Lord to those who are unfortunate, to those who are suffering, to those who are bereft of spiritual joy. Devotees should not be against anyone we are against illusion, we are against ignorance but we must always try to extend ourselves to elevate those who are suffering otherwise devotees have no business being in cities. Why great acharyas like Srila Prabhupad travelled all over the world, there was no association of devotees anywhere for him but out of love and compassion he wanted to give Kåñëa to everyone and he asked us if we become strong together , if we derive real pleasure from hearing the glories of the Lord and chanting his holy names in association of one another than this association will become so powerful that it can attract so many people of this world of birth and death to come to the platform of eternal love and that is our mission, that is our hope in life and if we desire this that desire in it of itself is most dear to Kåñëa. Even if on the material level if you want to perform some service and you fail it is a success in the eyes of God because you wanted to do it sincerely for him. From Narasinghananda Bramacharis story we can understand this we may have a great desire to do some nice service for the Lord and on the material platform it may fail but in Kåñëa’s heart according to the sincerity of your desire it is a success he has accepted it but we must know, we must express our desires by utilizing our full capacity to try to make that service an offering to the Lord. In this way Maharaj Kavi explained the transcendental bliss that one derives from the path of devotional service. And how through serving Kåñëa which begins with hearing and chanting and associating with sadhus we can actually be delivered from our false ego, our mind, our intelligence and all the miseries of the material world. Thank you very much. Hare Kåñëa.
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