sādhavo hrdayaḿ mahyaḿ

sādhūnāḿ hrdayaḿ tv aham

mad-anyat te na jānanti

nāhaḿ tebhyo manāg api

 

Translation

The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me and I do not know anyone else but them.

 

Purport

Since Durvasa Muni wanted to chastise Maharaja Ambariṣa, it is to be understood that he wanted to give pain to the heart of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for the Lord says, sadhavo hṛdayam mahyam: “The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart.” The Lord’s feelings are like those of a father, who feels pain when his child is in pain. Therefore, offenses at the lotus feet of a devotee are serious. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has very strongly recommended that one not commit any offense at the lotus feet of a devotee. Such offenses are compared to a mad elephant because when a mad elephant enters a garden it causes devastation. Therefore one should be extremely careful not to commit offenses at the lotus feet of a pure devotee. Actually Maharaja Ambariṣa was not at all at fault; Durvasa Muni unnecessarily wanted to chastise him on flimsy grounds. Maharaja Ambariṣa wanted to complete the Ekadasi-paraṇa as part of devotional service to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore he drank a little water. But although Durvasa Muni was a great mystic brahmaṇa, he did not know what is what. That is the difference between a pure devotee and a so-called learned scholar of Vedic knowledge. The devotees, being always situated in the core of the Lord’s heart, surely get all instructions directly from the Lord, as confirmed by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gita (10.11):

 

teṣām evānukampārtham

aham ajñāna-jaḿ tamaḥ

nāśayāmy ātma-bhāvastho

jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā

 

“Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.” The devotee does not do anything not sanctioned by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is said vaisnavera kriya mudra vijñeha na bujhaya. Even the most learned or experienced person cannot understand the movements of a Vaisnava, a pure devotee. No one, therefore, should criticize a pure Vaisnava. A Vaisnava knows his own business; whatever he does is precisely right because he is always guided by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Of the ten offenses to the holy name of the Lord, the first and most dangerous of all offenses is to blaspheme those devotees who are dedicating their lives to spreading the glories of the holy name.  This particular chapter of Srimad Bhagvatam, very clearly is the revelation of the inner feelings of the Lord’s heart that he is making known for all the world to see.  Sometimes when we have a very confidential friend, we can disclose the secrets of our heart.  Here Lord Sri Krsna is revealing one of the great secrets, the most intimate of the divine feelings of his heart.  He is explaining that the pure devotee is always within the core of my heart and I am always in the heart of pure devotees.  My devotees do not know anything else but me and I do not know anything else or anyone else but them.  The Supreme Personality of Godhead who is known as Bhaktavatsal is always captured by the love of his devotees.  Throughout the scriptures we find repeated evidence of this.

 

Lord is captured by the love of his devotees:

Mother Yashoda when she bound Krsna by the rope, it was rope used for holding the legs of cows, in his naughtiness she was feeling that he may put himself into a  difficult situation, it may cause him pain and therefore, Yashodamayi decided to tie him up.  First of all, she had to catch him, who can catch the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  It is described that the jyanis with all their memorization and excellent analysis of all the scriptures they can never ever catch the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the karma yogis even after performing the most elegant, elaborate sacrifices they cannot catch the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the mystic yogis even after life times of penance and tapasya in seclusion, keeping their back utterly erect stopping their breathing process, fasting, accepting celibacy in a secluded place and during the winters-freezing cold, the summers- burning heat, with snakes, scorpions, tigers and all sorts of dangers all around them, sometimes even for hundreds of years they exists only on prana– celestial breath.  Through this process no one has ever captured the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  But Mother Yashoda who is simply a housewife in the home of Nanda Maharaj because of her innocent and pure love she was not only able to catch Krsna but she was able to bind him with the rope of her devotion.  Therefore, Satyavrata Muni in his famous ‘Damodar Astakam’ he is offering obeisance’s to that rope which is the process of Bhakti a devotional service, which is the exclusive only means of understanding Krsna in truth (Bg.11.54)

bhaktyā tv ananyayā śakya

aham evaḿ-vidho ‘rjuna

jñātuḿ draṣṭuḿ ca tattvena

praveṣṭuḿ ca parantapa

‘Krsna says it is only by devotion that I can be understood as I am’.  We can understand the different aspects of the Lord by other processes of yoga or spirituality but it is only by love that we can conquer the heart of God, and here he is explaining to Durvasa Muni because Durvasa Muni factually was a great, great gyani, he was the brilliant scholar of Vedanta and the level of his austerities and the quality of his perfection and the mystic process was unparallel in all the universe.  But yet here we find that Lord Narayana, the Supreme Lord himself explains “I care nothing for your austerities, I care nothing for your tapasya, I care nothing for all the miracles you can perform, I care nothing for your intellectualization it is only the humility of a devotees heart that attracts me”.  And Ambarisa had none of these qualities manifesting in his life but he was a humble devotee.

 

Loving reciprocation between Sachi Mata and Lord:

In the Chaitanya Caritamrita Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a special avatar because the inner most feelings of God are manifested through his life, very clear and simple to understand for one who has open mind and a sincere desire for Krsna consciousness.  Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he was revealing the inner most feelings of Krsna’s heart, the love between Sri, Sri Radha and Krsna – Sri Krsna Chaitanya Radha Krsna nahi anya.  The most confidential aspect of the spiritual world was been revealed through this world in a way never done before and never again by Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and in his divine Lila what is most prominent is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is Krsna himself revealing the love with his devotees, over and over again he is demonstrating.  It is described that after he took the sanyas order of life, he was very anxious to return to his most beloved land of Vrindavan dham.  But it is described that Lord Nityananda knowing the anguish of the hearts of the devotees in Sri Dham Navadvipa he devised a secret plan to arrange so that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would return there instead and when he met his mother Sachi Devi, who had such love and devotion to him, he fell at his mother’s feet.  This was completely against all social conventions for a sanyasi to fall at his mother’s feet and when she saw him, she began to cry, she was accustomed to seeing him with beautiful flowing blackish hair that would conquer the mind even of cupid, with beautiful golden robes, jewelry and garland and now she was seeing him in a drab saffron dress of a sanyasi.  His beautiful hair shaven away, she began to cry tears, tears of spiritual transcendental pain ‘look at my dear son, what sort of austerities and troubles you have to undergo in the sanyas order of life’.  And as she was crying Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu allowed himself to be placed on the very lap of his own mother, she began to embrace him as she was smothering him again and again and again with her kisses of love, right in public in front of all of his devotees and as she was crying he was crying.  They were both with unbearable feelings of love for one another thinking of the immense separation that will take place and then Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu began to speak to his mother in public not only in the public but it’s in the pages of Chaitanya Caritamrita so that all the world can see for the rest of time, ‘this sanyasi how he is speaking to his mother’?

He said “My dear mother, I have no right to take this renounced order of life, it is complete madness, my body belongs to you, my life belongs to you, therefore,  if you want I will stay home with you for the rest of my life, no problem, I will not go anywhere, I will give up everything”.

This is the reciprocation of the Lord’s love for his devotee.  How dear Sachi Mata was to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Mother Sachi Devi how dear was the Lord to her heart, although there was nothing in the world, nothing in the universe that she wanted more than just having her Nimai Pandit living beside her so she could see his beautiful moonlike face, hear the sweetness of his words day after day as she was accustomed for 24 years.  But because she knew that the people would criticize if a sanyasi was simply living in home with mother, she said “No, no, you go to Jagannath Puri, Krsna is in Jagannath Puri, it is non-different than Vrindavan.  But at least, there I will get some news from you from time to time, because Puri and Navadvipa are like two rooms in the same house”.

Sachi Mata regularly receives Prasad from Lord:

So based on the loving request of his own mother, he changed all of his plans, he settled for the rest of his life in this world in Jagannath Puri that was his base.  And it is described that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sometimes when he would be with his devotees, not sometimes practically all of the times, his greatest joy was glorifying his devotees.  Sachi Mata hardly ever saw him again, it was a great sacrifice for her but it was a sacrifice of love thinking in terms of his pleasure, she was willing to give up his association and thinking in terms of her pleasure he was willing to give up all social respectability for himself.  This is the sweetness of the intensity of the love between Lord and his devotees and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he would send Sachi Mata Prasad regularly and he would explain sometimes that “My dear devotees, when you bring her prasad, please pass it by, she is in too much feelings of separation.  Tell her that do you remember this particular date, when you offered wonderful bhoga for the deities and you offered everything that I loved to eat and when you cooked I came there and ate everything and when you came back unto me the altar of the holy deity of the Lord, there was nothing left in the plate and in your ecstasy and humility you began to cry thinking Oh! My God, what an offense I have forgotten to put anything on the plates and you filled up the plates again and offered.   You should know my mother that I come whenever you cook I personally come and eat what you cook”.

 

Sachi Mata commits an offense against Advaita Acarya:

It is described that one time Sachi Mata understood how dear she was for the Supreme Lord, how dear and yet he could not even tolerate when someone as dear as Sachi Mata committed an offense to another devotee.  It is described that one time, in the house of Advaita Acarya, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told Sachi Devi that

“You can never go back to Godhead and you can never attain the mercy of Krsna because you have committed an offense against Sri Advaita Acarya in your mind”.

And she became very much frightful.  She was a very simple, and humble and innocent devotee.  She understood that she had displeased the Lord and he explained to her that you have no hope of going back to Krsna because you have committed an offense against a vaisnava. How exalted she was and how he could not even tolerate any offense against the vaisnava from her and she said “What have I done”?

He said that “When your son, my older brother took sanyas, you were in your mind, although, you did not say anything, you were in your mind blaming Advaita Acarya for influencing him to take sanyas, because Vishvarupa was always going to Advaita Acaryas house for hearing Srimad Bhagvatam and having kirtan and due to this influence he became completely, completely detached from all material life and when he ran away and took sanyas, you were thinking in your heart that this Advaita Acarya by his influence my beloved son has left. In this way in your mind you were committing offense to the lotus feet of Advaita Acarya and therefore, there is no hope for you to ever attain Krsna consciousness”.

Mother Sachi Devi she said “Now what do I have to do to atone for this offense”.

And he said “The only way to atone for this offense is that you must with your heart in a state of great humility desiring true forgiveness, you must take the dust from the feet of Sri Advaita Acarya”.

And Sachi Mata said “How is it possible?  Advaita Acarya, he worships me like his mother, because I am your mother.  He will never allow me to touch his feet.  He is much bigger and stronger than me, how will I ever touch his feet”?

He said “It is the only means”.

So he wanted to show the world, how serious he takes the offense of a devotee, he made a plan, he said “When Advaita Acarya comes, I will manifest to him my super excellence and then he will bow down to me and when he is in full prostrations, you come out from the back, where he will not see you and there you should take the dust from his lotus feet”.

So when Advaita Acarya came, he offered his prostrated obeisance’s to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Gaur Hari and while he was laying there immersed in divine love, Sachi Mata secret from behind took the dust from his feet and when he understood what happened he became very much embarrassed “Why have you done like this, how could you do like this”?

And then she confessed that “I have committed an offense to your lotus feet dear Advaita, please forgive me”.

And then Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explained to Advaita how this was necessary for the purification of Sachi Mata and also to establish throughout the world that no one can be dear to Krsna who is committing offenses to the lotus feet of the devotees.

 

Residents of Navadvipa commit offenses:

Of course, we also read about the story of how during the nocturnal kirtan’s at Srivasa Thakur, as they were having the night kirtan’s with doors and windows closed, the neighboring people were too much complaining because Navadvipa at that time was full of karma-kandi atheist and mental speculative scholars of the Vedas.  They could not understand the devotional ecstasies of the Lord and his devotees.  So they would criticize “Why are they locking the doors?  Why are they singing all night?  They are just a bunch of beggars, they are singing all night because they have no good food that cause them stomach pains, howling.  What do they do in there?  You know what they are doing?  They are having all sorts of illicit sexual affairs with women they are probably gambling, eating meat doing all abominable things.  That’s why they do not want us first class Vedic scholars to come in and expose them.  Such sentimentalist, rather than scrutinizing and analyzing the shastra’s like us they are simply chanting and dancing like women and children”.

 

Gopala Capala commits offenses against Srivasa Thakur:

In this way they were spreading all bad rumors, horrible gossip about the devotees.  So there was one Brahman his name was Gopala Capala, and he decided to disgrace Srivasa Thakur because he was envious of him, because he was getting so much recognition.  So what he did is he put in front of the house of Srivasa Thakur the paraphernalia for the worship of Durga which is done by those Tantric mystics who are essentially in the mode of ignorance.   He put the wine and the other Durga Puja paraphernalia.  So when Srivasa Thakur arose in the morning, when he came outside and he saw what was done in his front yard he called all the people of the town and said “You see I am worshiping Goddess Durga at night secretly, now you should all know that.  Actually I am just a tamo guni and I really have no devotion to Krsna or else I wouldn’t be doing these materialistic forms of tantricism”.  Of course, nobody believed him.  Gopala Capala within days came down with infectious severe case of leprosy and he was forced out of his home, and out of the village itself.  He was living alone on the banks of the Ganges some distance away suffering horribly.  One day Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was passing by and Gopala Capala came and began to beg the Lord

“Please, please I take shelter of you help me out of this horrible, painful suffering condition of life.  I surrender to you I am now your devotee please, save me”.

And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu looked at him with eyes like fire he said “Because you have committed an offense to my dear devotee Srivasa Thakur I cursed you for the next ten million of births, you only suffer this type of pain”.  And then the Lord walked away, left this man alone drowning in his own offense.

 

Gopala Capala forgiven by Srivasa Thakur:

Sometime later it was quite a while after, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was again passing that way and this time Gopala Capala was actually humble.  He fell at the feet of the Lord and he said “I deserve, much worse than this for what I have done to your devotee. How can I possibly atone for the offense I have committed to your devotee?  I understand now, how dear your devotee is to you”.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said “I have no power to forgive you, only my devotee has the power to forgive you”.

Gopala Capala went to the house to Srivasa Thakur and with a sincere and truly repented heart he fell at his feet and begged him “Please, forgive me!”

Of course, Srivasa Thakur never accepted the offense in the first place but the Lord does but when Srivasa Thakur simply gave his blessings he was cured of his leprosy, not only was he cured of his leprosy but he was cured of his envy for the devotees.  He also became a great devotee of the Lord.

Devananda Pandit commits an offense:

There are many stories like this.  In the Chaitanya Bhagvat it is explained that there was a devotee of the name Devananda Pandit and he was a great scholar.  He was teaching Srimad Bhagvatam and in the Srimad Bhagvatam one time Srivasa Thakur came to the class and when he heard one of the slokas in transcendental ecstasy he began to swirl and became unconscious and Devananda Pandit and his disciples they did not understand the sweetness of pure love of God.  They thought that he was some sort of pretender, that he was some sort of sickly person, so they picked him up and abusively brought him outside and left him outside.  And it is described for years and years and years Devananda Pandit was not allowed to become Krsna consciousness but he had to suffer until at last because of his repented forgiveness before the feet of Srivasa Thakur that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu forgave him.


Due to offenses our good qualities are vanquished:

So whoever we are do not forget about this principle.  It is the most important principle for our spiritual advancement.  Srila Prabhupada explains that offenses against vaisnavas are mad elephant offenses.  Even if after years and years and years you develop so many spiritual qualities they can all be vanquished, if we seriously commit an offense to a devotee.  Just as after years and years of growing a beautiful, beautiful garden and if you allow a mad elephant into that garden, how long does it take him to destroy everything?  It is only a matter of seconds.  This is why it is called mad elephant offense.  Therefore, within the shastra it is explained how extremely careful one must be not to commit offense to the devotees and of course the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna he also very much wanted to demonstrate this.

 

Yadu dynasty is destroyed due to offense:

The final Lila of Sri Krsna his last word in his life was practically to demonstrate this.  The end of Krsna’s Lila when he decided to send all the members of his infallible family the Yadus back to Godhead, now how to take them back to Godhead?  He decided that ‘Now it is the time for me to leave this world after 125 years of performing these wonderful pastimes I have completed my mission.  Now if I leave this world and the Yadu dynasty remains they will become so mad in separation and they are such powerful Kshatriyas that in ecstasy I don’t know what they are going to do’?  So he decided that they must go before me, but how will they go, no one can defeat them.  The only people who can defeat them, is if they fight among themselves.  So Krsna is so transcendentally clever that he can fulfill so many purposes with one pastime. He also wanted to show a lesson to the world what is essential.  What was that lesson?  He bewildered the hearts of younger members of the Yadu dynasty – Samba, Pradyumna and others and what they did is they disguised Samba as a lady a young girl, put a sari on her and put some padding on her stomach to make it look like he was pregnant and they wanted to just have a good laugh at the sadhus.   They were thinking we are Kshatriyas, we are practical people in this world, let’s have a good laugh at these sadhus, they are not very practical anyway.  So they went to these sadhus headed by Narada Muni, Parvat Muni they said “My dear, Maharaj’s you see this young girl she is pregnant we want to know, because we know that you know past present and future, will this be a boy or a girl”?  They were thinking ‘either one they would just start laughing and say “boy, girl!  See what foolish people, foolish scholars, foolish yogis you are, you do not even know our tricks”.  Their intention was to insult to minimize the position of these great souls.  So they asked this question “Will it be boy or will it girl”?

The Lord in the heart of Narada Muni wanted to show them a great lesson and Narada Muni announced with a tumultuous warning voice that “You rascals, she will give birth to a lump of iron which will be the cause of the destruction of your entire dynasty”.

And immediately they took off her sari and there was a big lump of iron that had come out of his stomach.  They were thinking what to do with this big lump of iron, so they brought it back to king Ugrasena, and king Ugrasena said “Well we have to destroy it somehow or other, well what to do to destroy it”.  So they began to grind it and grind it and grind it into powder.   One piece remained like this, they could not grind it down and they took that piece and threw it into the ocean and they took all the other ground up powder and threw it in the ocean and all the powder washed up to the bank and it began to grow these iron life bamboo shoots and that one piece simply remained in the forest and one hunter made an arrow head out of the piece and by Krsna’s arrangement he sent all of his family members to a place called Prabhasa Ksetra to perform some sacrifice and while there they got an internal quarrel and they began to pick up these shoots that were growing and the iron shoots began to hit each other and the whole Yadu dynasty was destroyed in that process.  And that other arrow of course, the (37:09.7) Lila of Sri Krsna the hunter by Krsna’s divine arrangement saw his beautiful foot and thought it was a deer and he shot the foot of Krsna and when he saw he was apologizing like anything and Krsna said to the hunter “No, no this is all my will, this is my Lila to leave this world”.  And his body simply ascended to the spiritual world and he left behind another body so that the atheist would have the facility to say “Oh! You see, he was an ordinary man”.

 

Krsna’s love for his devotees:

So this whole divine Lila of how Krsna left this world was to show each and every person, however exalted you are whether you are Sachi Mata, or whether you are even his own family members, you are Nitya Sidhas.  His own family members they are either the associates of the spiritual world or they are the greatest most celebrated demigods in the heaven, they have all descended as the members of the Yadu dynasty.  Even if you are his own personal children Samba, Pradyumna they were his children and grandchildren, even if you are the directly empowered family members of Sri Krsna living in the same house as him, if you commit offense to the devotees, you and your whole dynasty will be vanquished.

 

If you please devotees you please Krsna:

This is how much Krsna wanted to stress to us, how to be very careful about this and it is his mercy because it is the natural quality of his heart to love his devotees and on another hand, we are speaking of the negative side but on the positive side if you pleased the Lord’s devotees, if you show affection, if you show respect for a Lord’s devotee how much that will capture the Lord’s heart with gratitude and devotion to that sentiment of yours.  Therefore,

yasya prasädäd bhagavat-prasädo yasya prasädäd na gatiù kuto ‘pi

‘If you please the spiritual master, you get the complete mercy of Krsna within your life but if you displease the Guru you cannot get the mercy of Krsna in your life’.  You can travel throughout all creation you will not find it.  Durvasa Muni travelled throughout all of the creation but because he committed an offense to Ambarisa Maharaj there was nowhere he could find the Lord’s mercy, no one had the power to give it to him.  But if one pleases the Lord’s devotee, if one satisfies the Lord’s devotee, if one shows love and respect to his most beloved son then nothing can vanquish you.  Even though a greatest powerful mystic, Durvasa Muni has created a weapon it is millions and trillions of time more powerful than any bomb made by man today, he created a fiery demon that could devour the entire Earth within seconds but it could not harm even one hair of Ambarisa Maharaj because Ambarisa Maharaj was always aspiring to please the vaisnavas and to humbly put his head at the feet of the great devotees.

So when we understand through the Lord’s various incarnations on this Earth the relationship between him and his devotees then we can truly understand how to make real progress, undisturbed progress in devotional service Mad-bhakta-püjä abhyadhikä.  Sri Krsna tells Uddhava that “Worship of my devotee is more dear to me than worship of me, because I do not require anything but the love of my devotee and those who respect and please those who love me are infinitely and eternally dear most within my heart”.  This is the divine word of God.   “The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me and I do not know anyone else but them”.

 

Devotee:

Maharaj: You will understand the gravity of the situation, when we do not understand the gravity or severeness of offenses to devotees then we take it lightly, we think ‘we can get away with it after all I am a good soul, I am basically very sincere and very Krsna consciousness, this is practical, It’s what must be done according time and circumstance I must do like this’.  If you are a great acarya and you understand that this is actually what must be done at this time then you can do it but if you are not directly being guided by Guru and Krsna in this way then My God, you are playing with fire, not just fire but a deadliest fire.  If you understand the gravity you will be very careful in this regard but unfortunately people do not understand the gravity, they take it for granted, they take it lightly, they take the examples of the scriptures to be symbolic but they do not take them seriously.  This is very dangerous.  Throughout the Bhagvatam, throughout the Chaitanya Caritamrita even the Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita all these books are explaining so strongly ‘Do not offend the Lord’s devotee’.  The whole battle of Kuruksetra was staged simply because of offenses, offenses to devotees and the Lord arranged everyone to be destroyed.  What was the offense?  Many offenses but one is to Draupadi.  Draupadi was a woman, in those days women were considered great Goddess, they were considered hundreds of times more respected than they are today.  Today women want liberation because they are (45:43.5) of being exploited but in the Vedic culture a women is considered as a very, very high in spiritual position if they are spiritual and Draupadi although, she was in such an exalted spiritual position she was dragged by the hair into the assembly hall and Duryodhana and Duhsasana were trying to strip her naked in front of everyone to embarrass her.  The Lord could not tolerate this offense, so the reaction to this offense.  Trying to take a devotee down to a lower position, they are just light then Krsna will not take them very seriously.  We should try to guard against them also but Krsna will not take them seriously but if we actually have a plan or a plot to take a devotee to disgrace them before others or put him low before others that offense will not be tolerated by Krsna.   But if sometimes we get older and say something ‘this that’ that is not actually from our heart, that is just a reaction due to our conditioning. So those offenses could easily be overlooked by Krsna if we are sincerely trying to serve the devotees.  Examples are given in the scriptures so that even with the thought of offense against devotees it will frighten us so much we think ‘My God, Krsna please, forgive me’.  This is the state of paranoid this is the state where our heart is actually afraid and filled with the seed of love to grow.  If you understand it we must reconditioned ourselves against whimsical talk and against envious motives within our hearts. If we feel envy or if we feel threatened by the position of a particular devotee, we must understand that ‘My God, if I am wrong I am finished, if I am right Krsna will resolve it otherwise, but if I am wrong’  and therefore, we should pray in that situation “Krsna please, purify my heart”.  Even if these desires are in our heart, if your respond according to those desires then you commit offense but if you pray to Krsna to nullify those desires, the desire is there what can you do? The problem is not the desire the problem is what you do in response.  If you pray to Krsna in that situation “Please, help me, please purify me, please let me become his servant.  Maybe I do not understand but this is the higher powers hands but let me go on with my service and let me respect all vaisnavas”.  If that is your prayer, then you will very quickly be purified.  So that is what you can do.

Narottam Das Thakur prays that “My dear Lord, if someone commits an OFFENSE to you by chanting the holy name he is forgiven but if someone offends your devotee there is no salvation”.  The only salvation is a very, very deep sincere desire for forgiveness.  So we should pray for that state of consciousness where we see the good qualities in others.  A honey bee finds the nectar of each flower and a fly is very anxious to taste stool and the infections that come from sores on your body.  You never see a fly going from flower to flower tasting the sweet essence of the honey the nectar, the fly loves infections, stool, urine, puss, so we all have this fly like tendency we love to ponder upon the stool of the faults of others.  We have to take to the process of Krsna consciousness by performing the austerities of humbly serving the devotees and with a genuine sincere heart praying to Krsna to make your heart pure and by his grace we can overcome our fly like tendencies and we can become like a honey bee always hovering over his lotus feet, tasting the sweetness of his love.

 

I would like to thank you all very much.

Written by

Radhanath Swami

H.H Radhanath Swami is one of today’s most beloved and respected spiritual teachers. A Bhakti Yoga practitioner for 40 years, he is a guide, community builder, philanthropist, and acclaimed author.Born and raised in Chicago,at the age of 19 he discovered India's Mystical devotional tradition and now spread his message of compassion and love around the world.

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About Me

Radhanath Swami

H.H Radhanath Swami is one of today’s most beloved and respected spiritual teachers. A Bhakti Yoga practitioner for 40 years, he is a guide, community builder, philanthropist, and acclaimed author.Born and raised in Chicago,at the age of 19 he discovered India's Mystical devotional tradition and now spread his message of compassion and love around the world.