Sri Vaishnava Toshani, Nov–Dec 1992, Vol 1 #6 is presented here. pdf edition ePub edition Contents: The Faults You Find May Be Your Own by His Divine Grace B.R. Sridhara Dev-Goswami Maharaja The Real Approach To Fearlessness by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad Letter of appreciation upon completion of the First World Tour by Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj Transactions Of The Heart by His Divine Grace Bhakti Sundar Govinda Maharaja A Glimpse Into Reality by Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaja The Traveler by B.A. Sagar Maharaja The Progressive March of Devotion by B.K. Giri Maharaja Home Sweet Home by Dinadhama Srutasrava dasa Previous editions uploaded: Jan–Feb 1992 Vol 1 No 1 March–April 1992 Vol 1 No 2 May–June 1992 Vol 1 No 3
The daily challenges of practising life and motivation to continue
“As a mother I feel there is nothing better you can give your children other than Krishna consciousness. As a parent you must give something to your children and I am happy I can give this to my daughter.”
The importance of association and the natural transaction of faith
The meaning of the mission
Continuing to follow Srila Gurudev in separation
First meeting with Srila Gurudev: love at first sight
Srila Govinda Maharaj reading chapter one of Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamrtam, from the Bengali edition. Download mp3 audio (originally published on scsmath.com)
Chapter One
ऊपक्रमामृतम्
Upakramamrtam
Prelude to Approaching Nectar
अथ मङ्गलाचरणम्—
श्रीगुरुगौरगान्धर्व्वागोविन्दाङ्घ्रीन्गणैः सह।
वन्दे प्रसादतो येषां सर्व्वारम्भाः शुभङ्कराः ॥१॥ atha maṅgalācharaṇam— śrī-guru-gaura-gāndharvā-govindāṅghrīn gaṇaiḥ saha vande prasādato yeṣāṁ sarvārambhāḥ śubhaṅkarāḥ [1]
Auspicious invocation—
I make my obeisance unto the lotus feet of my Divine Master, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Sri Gandharva-Giridhari (Sri Sri Radha and Krishna), and Their associates. By Their grace, all endeavours are successful.
गौरवाग्विग्रहं वन्दे गौराङ्गं गौरवैभवम्।
गौरसङ्कीर्तनोन्मत्तं गौरकारुण्यसुन्दरम्॥२॥ gaura-vāg-vigrahaṁ vande gaurāṅgaṁ gaura-vaibhavam
gaura-saṅkīrtanonmattaṁ gaura-kāruṇya-sundaram [2]
I make my obeisance unto the Deity, Gaura-Saraswati—the personified message of the Golden Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—whose bodily lustre is of a beautiful golden hue, like that of the selfsame Lord Gaurasundar; who is the personal expansion of that Supreme Lord Gaurahari; who is always intoxicated by preaching the message of that golden Lord; and whose divine beauty blooms in the revelation of Lord Gauranga’s mercy potency.
(This is the fundamental meaning of the verse. Within the scope of the Sanskrit language, various expanded purports may be drawn from the original.)
गुरुरूपहरिं गौरं राधारुचिरुचावृतम्।
नित्यं नौमि नवद्वीपे नामकीर्त्तननर्त्तनैः॥३॥ guru-rūpa-hariṁ gauraṁ rādhā-ruchi-ruchāvṛtam
nityaṁ naumi navadvīpe nāma-kīrtana-nartanaiḥ [3]
Perpetually do I sing the glories of Lord Gauranga, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Hari, embraced by the heart and halo of Sri Radhika, and who has descended as the Divine Master. In this holy abode of Sri Nabadwip Dham, He is absorbed in the Pastimes of profusely chanting the Holy Names, dancing in ecstasy.
(As with verse two, expanded purports may be drawn from this verse.)
श्रीमत्प्रभुपदाम्भोजमधुपेभ्यो नमो नमः।
तृप्यन्तु कृपया तेऽत्र प्रपन्नजीवनामृते ॥४॥ śrīmat-prabhu-padāmbhoja-madhupebhyo namo namaḥ
tṛpyantu kṛpayā te ’tra prapanna-jīvanāmṛte [4]
Again and again I make my obeisance unto the eternal personal servitors of my Divine Master, who drink the nectar of his lotus feet. I pray they may be graciously pleased in tasting this Life-Nectar of the Surrendered Souls.
आत्मविज्ञप्तिः—
अत्यर्व्वचीनरूपोऽपि प्राचीनानां सुसम्मतान्।
श्लोकान्कतिपयानत्र चाहरामि सतां मुदे ॥५॥ ātma-vijñaptiḥ— aty-arvāchīna-rūpo ’pi prāchīnānāṁ susammatān
ślokān katipayān atra chāharāmi satāṁ mude [5]
A humble petition—
Despite my disqualifications, for the satisfaction of the pure devotees I have compiled in this book an anthology of stanzas that are well established by our predecessors.
तद्वाग्विसर्गो जनताघविप्लवो
यस्मिन्प्रतिश्लोकमबद्धवत्यपि।
नामान्यनन्तस्य यशोऽङ्कितानि यच्
छृण्वन्ति गायन्ति गृणन्ति साधवः ॥६॥
भाः १।५।११ tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavo
yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty api
nāmāny anantasya yaśo ’ṅkitāni yach
chhṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ [6] (SB: 1.5.11)
“Even if every stanza is imperfectly composed, that is, unlucidly expressed, the sins of the people are totally vanquished by those expressions or books in which the glorious Holy Names of the Infinite Supreme Lord are described—since the pure devotees hear those Holy Names (from a qualified preacher), they solitarily sing those Holy Names (even in the absence of others), and they chant the unending glories of those Holy Names (in the presence of a deserving listener).”
अभिव्यक्ता मत्तः प्रकृतिलघुरूपादपि बुधा
विधात्री सिद्धार्थान्हरिगुणमयी वः कृतिरियम्।
पुलिन्देनाप्यग्निः किमु समिधमुन्मथ्य जनितो
हिरण्यश्रेणीनामपहरति नान्तःकलुषताम् ॥७॥श्रीरूपपादानां abhivyaktā mattaḥ prakṛti-laghu-rūpād api budhā
vidhātrī siddhārthān hari-guṇamayī vaḥ kṛtir iyam
pulindenāpy agniḥ kim u samidham unmathya janito
hiraṇya-śreṇīnām apaharati nāntaḥ kaluṣatām [7] (Sri-Rupapadanam)
“O learned personalities, this treatise, composed of the divine qualities of Lord Hari, will fulfil your cherished wishes despite the fact that it is presented by me, a very insignificant person. Does not the fire ignited from pieces of wood rubbed together by a low-born barbarian dissipate the impurities in gold?”
यथोक्ता रूपपादेन नीचेनोत्पादितेऽनले।
हेम्नः शुद्धिस्तथैवात्र विरहार्त्तिहृतिः सताम् ॥८॥ yathoktā rūpa-pādena nīchenotpādite ’nale
hemnaḥ śuddhis tathaivātra virahārti-hṛtiḥ satām [8]
As Srila Rupa Goswamipad has (in his humility) expressed that gold can be purified with fire lit by a barbarian, similarly, the pure devotees’ grief born of their separation from the Lord may also be dispelled by this book (which will light the lamp of their divine love for the Lord).
अन्तः कवियशस्कामं साधुतावरणं बहिः।
शुध्यन्तु साधवः सर्व्वे दुश्चिकित्स्यमिमं जनम् ॥९॥ antaḥ kavi-yaśas-kāmaṁ sādhutāvaraṇaṁ bahiḥ
śudhyantu sādhavaḥ sarve duśchikitsyam imaṁ janam [9]
O saintly devotees, please purify this wrongdoer who on the pretext of saintliness desires in his heart the prestige of a poet, and who is thus afflicted with the practically incurable disease of insincerity.
कृष्णगाथाप्रिया भक्ता भक्तगाथाप्रियो हरिः।
कथञ्चिदुभयोरत्र प्रसङ्गस्तत्प्रसीदताम् ॥१०॥ kṛṣṇa-gāthā-priyā bhaktā bhakta-gāthā-priyo hariḥ
kathañchid ubhayor atra prasaṅgas tat prasīdatām [10]
Tidings of Lord Krishna are naturally very dear to the devotees, and tidings of the Lord’s devotees are also dear to Him. Since narratives of both the Supreme Lord and His devotees can be found within this book, I have hope, O pure devotees, that you may be propitiated hereby.
स्वभावकृपया सन्तो मदुद्देश्यमलिनताम्।
संशोध्याङ्गीकुरुध्वं भो ह्यहैतुककृपाब्धयः ॥११॥ svabhāva-kṛpayā santo mad uddeśya-malinatām
saṁśodhyāṅgīkurudhvaṁ bho hy ahaituka-kṛpābdhayaḥ [11]
O pure devotees, by your natural divine grace, kindly purify me of all ill motives (offences) and accept this treatise. Certainly you will do so, because you are the ocean of causeless mercy.
अथ ग्रन्थपरिचयः—
ग्रन्थेऽस्मिन्परमे नाम प्रपन्नजीवनामृते।
दशाध्याये प्रपन्नानां जीवनप्राणदायकम् ॥१२॥
वर्द्धकं पोषकं नित्यं हृदिन्द्रियरसायनम्।
अतिमर्त्त्यरसोल्लासपरस्परसुखावहम् ॥१३॥
विरहमिलनार्थाप्तं कृष्णकार्ष्णकथामृतम्।
प्रपत्तिविषयं वाक्यं चोद्धृतं शास्त्रसम्मतम् ॥१४॥ atha grantha-parichayaḥ— granthe ’smin parame nāma prapanna-jīvanāmṛte daśādhyāye prapannānāṁ jīvana-prāṇa-dāyakam [12] vardhakaṁ poṣakaṁ nityaṁ hṛdindriya-rasāyanam atimartya-rasollāsa-paraspara-sukhāvaham [13] viraha-milanārthāptaṁ kṛṣṇa-kārṣṇa-kathāmṛtam prapatti-viṣayaṁ vākyaṁ choddhṛtaṁ śāstra-sammatam [14]
Introduction to the book—
The substance expressed within the ten chapters of this holy book called Prapanna-jivanamrtam gives life to the surrendered souls, effecting their eternal growth and nourishment. It is the panacea of the heart and spiritual senses, bestowing those dedicated devotees’ mutual happiness by the ever-increasingly newer and newer play of supramundane joy (aprakrta-rasa). Lord Krishna and His associates are portrayed in their natural Pastimes of separation and union, and the line of unconditional surrender as established by scriptures and saints has been elucidated.
अत्र चानन्यचित्तानां कृष्णपादरजोजुषाम्।
कृष्णपादप्रपन्नानां कृष्णार्थेऽखिलकर्म्मणाम् ॥१५॥
कृष्णप्रेमैकलुब्धानां कृष्णोच्छिष्टैकजीविनाम्।
कृष्णसुखैकवाञ्छानां कृष्णकिङ्करसेविनाम् ॥१६॥
कृष्णविच्छेददग्धानां कृष्णसङ्गोल्लसद्धृदाम्।
कृष्णस्वजनबन्धूनां कृष्णैकदयितात्मनाम् ॥१७॥
भक्तानां हृदयोद्घाटिमर्म्मगाथामृतेन च।
भक्तार्तिहरभक्ताशाभीष्टपूर्त्तिकरं तथा ॥१८॥
सर्व्वसंशयच्छेदिहृद्ग्रन्थिभिज्ज्ञानभासितम्।
अपूर्वरससम्भारचमत्कारितचित्तकम् ॥१९॥
विरहव्याधिसन्तप्तभक्तचित्तमहौषधम्।
युक्तायुक्तं परित्यज्य भक्तार्थाखिलचेष्टितम् ॥२०॥
आत्मप्रदानपर्य्यन्तप्रतिज्ञान्तः प्रतिश्रुतम्।
भक्तप्रेमैकवश्यस्वस्वरूपोल्लासघोषितम् ॥२१॥
पूर्णाश्वासकरं साक्षाद्गोविन्दवचनामृतम् ।
समाहृतं पिबन्तु भोः साधवः शुद्धदर्शनाः ॥२२॥ atra chānanya-chittānāṁ kṛṣṇa-pāda-rajojuṣām kṛṣṇa-pāda-prapannānāṁ kṛṣṇārthe ’khila-karmaṇām [15] kṛṣṇa-premaika-lubdhānāṁ kṛṣṇochchhiṣṭaika-jīvinām kṛṣṇa-sukhaika-vāñchhānāṁ kṛṣṇa-kiṅkara-sevinām [16] kṛṣṇa-vichchheda-dagdhānāṁ kṛṣṇa-saṅgollasaddhṛdām kṛṣṇa-svajana-bandhūnāṁ kṛṣṇaika-dayitātmanām [17] bhaktānāṁ hṛdayodghāṭi-marma-gāthāmṛtena cha bhaktārti-hara-bhaktāśā-bhīṣṭa-pūrtikaraṁ tathā [18] sarva-saṁśaya-chchhedi-hṛd-granthi-bhij-jñāna-bhāsitam apūrva-rasa-sambhāra-chamatkārita-chittakam [19] viraha-vyādhi-santapta-bhakta-chitta-mahauṣadham yuktāyuktaṁ parityajya bhaktārthākhila-cheṣṭitam [20] ātma-pradāna-paryanta-pratijñāntaḥ-pratiśrutam bhakta-premaika-vaśya-sva-svarūpollāsa-ghoṣitam [21] pūrṇāśvāsakaraṁ sākṣād govinda-vachanāmṛtam samāhṛtaṁ pibantu bhoḥ sādhavaḥ śuddha-darśanāḥ [22]
Carefully compiled in this book is the nectar of the deep, heart-revealing transcendental messages of those devotees whose hearts are unalloyed; who are servitors of the dust of the lotus feet of Krishna; who perform their every act for Krishna; who are filled with insatiable desire exclusively in love of Krishna and sustain their lives on Krishna’s remnants alone; who desire only Krishna’s pleasure and serve the servants of Krishna; whose hearts burn in separation of Krishna and overflow with ecstasy in the association of Krishna; whose relative and friend is Krishna; and whose one and only beloved is Krishna.
Along with these expressions of the devotees are carefully collected the words of supreme nectar—springing directly from the lotus mouth of Lord Govinda—which vanquish the heartbreak of the devotees; which fulfil the devotee’s hopes and earnest aspirations; which destroy all doubt and sever the knot of ignorance; which are dazzling with transcendental wisdom and astonish the heart by miraculous waves of divine rapture; which are the great panacea for the devotee’s heart afflicted with the piercing pangs of separation; which are incited wholly for the devotee irrespective of his qualification or disqualification, so much so, that the Lord is bound by His pledge to give Himself to His devotee; and which openly proclaim with great ecstasy that His very nature is to be subjugated solely by the affection of His devotee, reassuring His devotees in all circumstances.
O pure and spotless devotees, may you drink deeply the quintessence of these divine elixirs.
अध्यायपरिचयः—
अत्रैव प्रथमाध्याये उपक्रमामृताभिधे।
मङ्गलाचरणञ्चात्मविज्ञप्तिर्वस्तुनिर्णयः।
ग्रन्थपरिचयोऽध्यायविषयश्च निवेशितः ॥२३॥
adhyāya-parichayaḥ—
atraiva prathamādhyāye upakramāmṛtābhidhe mangalācharaṇañ chātma-vijñaptir vastu-nirṇayaḥ grantha-parichayo ’dhyāya-viṣayaś cha niveśitaḥ [23]
Chapter summary—
An auspicious invocation, a humble petition, an introduction to the book and its chapters, and the theme of the philosophy of the book have, to the best of my ability, all been entered within this first chapter named ‘Upakramamrtam’ or ‘Prelude to Approaching Nectar’.
द्वितीयाध्यायके नाम श्रीशास्त्रवचनामृते।
प्रपत्तिविषया नानाशास्त्रोक्तिः सन्निवेशिता ॥२४॥ dvitīyādhyāyake nāma śrī-śāstra-vachanāmṛte prapatti-viṣayā nānā-śāstroktiḥ sanniveśitā [24]
In the second chapter, entitled ‘Sri Sastra-vachanamrtam’, ‘The Nectar of Scriptural Word’, various scriptural quotations regarding surrender to the Supreme Lord have been compiled.
तृतीयतोऽष्टमं यावच्छ्रीभक्तवचनामृते।
प्रपत्तिः षड्विधा प्रोक्ता भागवतगणोदिता ॥२५॥ tṛtīyato ’ṣṭamaṁ yāvach chhrī-bhakta-vachanāmṛte prapattiḥ ṣaḍ-vidhā proktā bhāgavata-gaṇoditā [25]
Chapters three to eight inclusive are entitled ‘Sri Bhakta-vachanamrtam’, ‘Words of Nectar from the Devotees’. Beautifully expressed by the lotus lips of the pure devotees of the Lord, many stanzas describing the six limbs of exclusive surrender are quoted therein.
आनुकूल्यस्य सङ्कल्पः प्रातिकूल्यविवर्ज्जनम्।
रक्षिष्यतीति विश्वासो गोप्तृत्वे वरणं तथा ॥२६॥
आत्मनिक्षेप कार्पण्ये षड्विधा शरणागतिः।
एवं पर्य्यायतश्चास्मिन्नेकैकाध्यायसङ्ग्रहः ॥२७॥ ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlya-vivarjanam rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāso goptṛtve varaṇaṁ tathā [26] ātma-nikṣepa kārpaṇye ṣaḍ-vidhā śaraṇāgatiḥ evaṁ paryāyataś chāsminn ekaikādhyāya-saṅgrahaḥ [27]
These six chapters have been compiled, each consecutively dealing with the six limbs of surrender, which are as follows:
1. To accept everything favourable for devotion to Krishna
2. To reject everything unfavourable for devotion to Krishna
3. To be confident that Krishna will grant His protection
4. To embrace Krishna’s guardianship
5. To offer oneself unto Him
6. To consider oneself lowly and bereft.
अध्याये नवमे नाम भगवद्वचनामृते।
श्लोकामृतं समाहृतं साक्षाद्भगवतोदितम् ॥२८॥ adhyāye navame nāma bhagavad-vachanāmṛte
ślokāmṛtaṁ samāhṛtaṁ sākṣād-bhagavatoditam [28]
In the ninth chapter entitled ‘Sri Bhagavad-vachanamrtam’, ‘Words of Nectar from the Supreme Lord’, nectarean stanzas emanating directly from the lotus mouth of the Supreme Lord have been compiled.
दशमे चरमाध्याये चावशेषामृताभिधे।
गुरुकृष्णस्मृतौ ग्रन्थस्योपसंहरणं कृतम् ॥२९॥ daśame charamādhyāye chāvaśeṣāmṛtābhidhe
guru-kṛṣṇa-smṛtau granthasyopasaṁharaṇaṁ krṭam [29]
Absorbed in thought of the Divine Master and Lord Sri Krishna, the tenth and final chapter entitled ‘Sri Avasesamrtam’, ‘The Divine Remnants of Nectar’, was composed as the epilogue of the book.
उद्धृतश्लोकपूर्व्वे तु तदर्थसुप्रकाशकम्।
वाक्यञ्च यत्नतस्तत्र यथाज्ञानं निवेशितम् ॥३०॥ uddhṛta-śloka-pūrve tu tad artha-suprakāśakam
vākyañ cha yatnatas tatra yathā-jñānaṁ niveśitam [30]
Prior to each stanza quoted, an aphorism illuminating its inner purport has been carefully entered according to my best insight.
भगवद्गौरचन्द्रानां वदनेन्दुसुधात्मिका।
भक्तोक्तैर्वेशिता श्लोका भक्तभावोदिता यतः ॥३१॥ bhagavad-gaurachandrānāṁ vadanendu-sudhātmikā
bhaktoktair veśitā ślokā bhakta-bhāvoditā yataḥ [31]
Being revealed by the Lord Himself adopting the heart of a devotee, the stanzas of pure nectar emanating from the moon of Sri Gaurachandra have been entered along with the stanzas of the devotees.
प्रपत्त्या सह चानन्यभक्तेर्नैकट्यहेतुतः।
अनन्यभक्तिसम्बन्धं बहुवाक्यमिहोद्धृतम् ॥३२॥ prapattyā saha chānanya-bhakter naikaṭya-hetutaḥ
ananya-bhakti-sambandhaṁ bahu-vākyam ihoddhṛtam [32]
Many expressions of exclusive devotion (ananya-bhakti) have been recorded herein, since exclusive devotion is most intimately related to surrender.
भगवद्भक्तशास्त्रानां सम्बन्धोऽस्ति परस्परम्।
तत्तत्प्राधान्यतो नाम्नां प्रभेदकरणं स्मृतम् ॥३३॥ bhagavad-bhakta-śāstrānāṁ sambandho ’sti parasparam
tat tat prādhānyato nāmnāṁ prabheda-karaṇaṁ smṛtam [33]
Actually, ‘Words of Nectar from the Supreme Lord‘, ‘Words of Nectar from the Devotees’, and ‘The Nectar of Scriptural Word’ are all seen to be interrelated. Still, they have been portrayed separately due to their individual importance.
प्रत्यध्यायविशेषस्तु तत्र तत्रैव वक्ष्यते।
महाजनविचारस्य किञ्चिदलोछ्यतेऽधुना ॥३४॥ praty-adhyāya-viśeṣas tu tatra tatraiva vakṣyate
mahājana-vichārasya kiñchid ālochyate ’dhunā [34]
The unique characteristic of each chapter will be accordingly expressed therein. Now (in this respect), we may have some general deliberation, in the line of the great devotees of the Lord.
वस्तुनिर्णयः—
भगवद्भक्तितः सर्व्वमित्युत्सृज्य विधेरपि।
कैङ्कर्य्यं कृष्णपादैकाश्रयत्वं शरणागतिः॥३५॥ vastu-nirṇayaḥ— bhagavad-bhaktitaḥ sarvam ity utsṛjya vidher api
kaiṅkaryaṁ kṛṣṇa-pādaikāśrayatvaṁ śaraṇāgatiḥ [35]
Theme of the work—
Being governed by the faith that all success is achieved by serving the Supreme Lord, to abandon servitude to even scriptural injunctions and take exclusive refuge in the lotus feet of Sri Krishna in every time, place, and circumstance, is known as saranagati—unconditional surrender.
सर्व्वान्तर्यामितां दृष्ट्वा हरेः सम्बन्धतोऽखिले।
अपृथग्भावतद्दृष्टिः प्रपत्तिर्ज्ञानभक्तितः ॥३६॥ sarvāntaryāmitāṁ dṛṣṭvā hareḥ sambandhato ’khile apṛthag-bhāva-tad-dṛṣṭiḥ prapattir jñāna-bhaktitaḥ [36]
Some consider saranagati to be that God consciousness which is realisation of the one non-differentiated nature in all beings and objects, by seeing the Supreme Lord as the indwelling Supersoul of everything. However, such a conception falls within the category of calculative devotion (jnana-bhakti). It is not in the line of unadulterated pure devotion (suddha-bhakti).
नित्यत्वञ्चैव शास्त्रेषु प्रपत्तेर्ज्ञायते बुधैः।
अप्रपन्नस्य नृजन्मवैफल्योक्तेस्तु नित्यता ॥३७॥ nityatvañ chaiva śāstreṣu prapatter jñāyate budhaiḥ aprapannasya nṛ-janma-vaiphalyoktes tu nityatā [37]
By scriptural reference, the learned know of the eternality of surrender to the Lord, since the futility of human life without that surrender is elucidated therein. In this way, the eternal constitution of surrender is established.
नान्यदिच्छन्ति तत्पादरजःप्रपन्नवैष्णवाः।
किञ्छिदपीति तत्तस्याः साध्यत्वमुच्यते बुधैः ॥३८॥ nānyad ichchhanti tat pāda-rajaḥ-prapanna-vaiṣṇavāḥ kiñchid apīti tat tasyāḥ sādhyatvam uchyate budhaiḥ [38]
Because the devotees who have surrendered unto the dust of the lotus feet of the Lord never aspire for anything else whatsoever, the learned affirm that surrender is the attainable goal of all endeavours.
भवदुःखविनाशश्च परनिस्तारयोग्यता।
परं पदं प्रपत्त्यैव कृष्णसम्प्राप्तिरेव च ॥३९॥ bhava-duḥkha-vināśaś cha para-nistāra-yogyatā paraṁ padaṁ prapattyaiva kṛṣṇa-samprāptir eva cha [39]
Only by surrender to the Lord can one gain freedom from the miseries of birth, death, disease, and infirmity; fitness to deliver others from those miseries; the holy abode of Lord Visnu; and the devotional service of Lord Krishna.
श्रवणकीर्त्तनादीनां भक्त्यङ्गानां हि याजने।
अक्षमस्यापि सर्व्वाप्तिः प्रपत्त्यैव हराविति ॥४०॥ śravaṇa-kīrtanādīnāṁ bhakty-aṅgānāṁ hi yājane akṣamasyāpi sarvāptiḥ prapattyaiva harāv iti [40]
Everything is accomplished by surrendering unto the lotus feet of Sri Hari, even for one who is unable to execute the integral practises of devotional service based on hearing and chanting.
सख्यरसाश्रितप्राया सेति केचिद्वदन्ति तु।
माधुर्य्यादौ प्रपन्नानां प्रवेशो नास्ति चेति न ॥४१॥ sakhya-rasāśrita-prāyā seti kechid vadanti tu mādhuryādau prapannānāṁ praveśo nāsti cheti na [41]
Some claim that surrender is generally in the relationship of friendship (sakhya-rasa). But it is complete fallacy to think that surrendered souls have no entrance into divine relationships headed by consorthood (madhura-rasa).
सकृत्प्रवृत्तिमात्रेण प्रपत्तिः सिध्यतीति यत्।
लोभोत्पादनहेतोस्तदालोचनप्रयोजनम् ॥४२॥ sakṛt pravṛtti-mātreṇa prapattiḥ sidhyatīti yat lobhotpādana-hetos tad ālochana-prayojanam [42]
Since surrender is achieved by turning to the refuge of the Lord just once, we should earnestly discuss the subject to enable the longing for surrender to be born in us.
अपि तदानुकूल्यादिसङ्कल्पाद्यङ्गलक्षणात्।
तदनुशीलनीयत्वमुच्यते हि महाजनैः ॥४३॥ api tad ānukūlyādi-saṅkalpādy-aṅga-lakṣaṇāt tad anuśīlanīyatvam uchyate hi mahājanaiḥ [43]
Furthermore, since the constituent parts of surrender—based on acceptance of the favourable and rejection of the unfavourable—have been referred to by authorities and cited in the scriptures, the great devotees of the Lord teach us the necessity of studying and culturing the art of surrender.
भवार्त्तिपीड्यमानो वा भक्तिमात्राभिलाष्यपि।
वैमुख्यबाध्यमानोऽन्यगतिस्तच्छरणं व्रजेत् ॥४४॥ bhavārti-pīḍyamāno vā bhakti-mātrābhilāṣy api
vaimukhya-bādhyamāno ’nya-gatis tach chharaṇaṁ vrajet [44]
One who is severely afflicted by fear of living in the material world, or, one who, despite having an aspiration for the Lord’s service is nonetheless bound with adversity—such persons, finding no alternative, surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
आश्रयान्तरराहित्ये वान्याश्रयविसर्ज्जने।
अनन्यगतिभेदस्तु द्विविधः परिकीर्तितः ॥४५॥ āśrayāntara-rāhitye vānyāśraya-visarjane ananya-gati-bhedas tu dvi-vidhaḥ parikīrtitaḥ [45]
The state of finding no other alternative occurs in two ways: in the event of having no other shelter, or in the event of abandoning one’s existing shelter.
मनोवाक्कायभेदाच्च त्रिविधा शरणागतिः।
तासां सर्व्वाङ्गसम्पन्ना शीघ्रं पूर्णफलप्रदा।
न्यूनाधिक्येन चैतासां तारतम्यं फलेऽपि च ॥४६॥ mano-vāk-kāya-bhedāch cha tri-vidhā śaraṇāgatiḥ tāsāṁ sarvāṅga-sampannā śīghraṁ pūrṇa-phala-pradā nyūnādhikyena chaitāsāṁ tāratamyaṁ phale ’pi cha [46]
One surrenders by thought, word, and deed. Complete surrender in all these aspects promptly affords full success. Otherwise, the fruit attained will be proportionate to the degree of one’s surrender.
अपूर्व्वाफलत्वं—
विनाश्य सर्व्वदुःखानि निजमाधुर्य्यवर्षणम्।
करोति भगवान्भक्ते शरणागतपालकः ॥४७॥
apūrva-phalatvaṁ—
vināśya sarva-duḥkāni nija-mādhurya-varṣaṇam karoti bhagavān bhakte śaraṇāgata-pālakaḥ [47]
The unprecedented, gracious reward of surrender—
Being most affectionate toward His surrendered souls, the Supreme Lord totally dispels their unhappiness, graciously filling their hearts with His sweet absolute presence.
अप्यसिद्धं तदीयत्वं विना च शरणागतिम्।
इत्यपूर्व्वफलत्वं हि तस्याः शंसन्ति पण्डिताः ॥४८॥ apy asiddhaṁ tadīyatvaṁ vinā cha śaraṇāgatim ity apūrva-phalatvaṁ hi tasyāh śaṁsanti paṇḍitāḥ [48]
Without unconditional surrender (saranagati), one cannot conceive of oneself as ‘belonging to Him’. And this is why the learned sing (par excellence) the glories of surrender’s ability to yield her unprecedented, gracious fruit.
अथवा बहुभिरेतैरुक्तिभिः किं प्रयोजनम्।
सर्व्वसिद्धिर्भवेदेव गोविन्दचरणाश्रयात् ॥४९॥ athavā bahubhir etair uktibhiḥ kiṁ prayojanam sarva-siddhir bhaved eva govinda-charaṇāśrayāt [49]
Otherwise, what would have been the need for so abundantly singing her praises? Only by unconditional surrender unto the lotus feet of Govinda is all perfection attained—nothing remains to be attained.
श्रीसनातनजीवादिमहाजनसमाहृतम्।
अपि चेन्नीचसंस्पृष्टं पीयूषं पीयतां बुधाः ॥५०॥ śrī-sanātana-jīvādi-mahājana-samāhṛtam api chen nīcha-saṁspṛṣṭaṁ pīyūṣaṁ pīyatāṁ budhāḥ [50]
Even though touched by one as lowly as me, please, O learned devotees, drink this nectar gathered by the great souls headed by Srila Sanatan and Sri Jiva.
If I need one glass of water and I say to you, “Give me one glass of water”, you can give it to me no doubt, but that is second class service. You have freedom and you can understand through your realisation, “Now you need a little water.” If you will serve with your full freedom then that will be very good for the Lord.
Download mp3 audio file. 21 mins, with Italian translation by Krishna Kanta Devi Dasi. This audio file starts at the beginning of Srila Gurudev’s talk, which is presented in the article Real Friendship.
When Kṛṣṇa mercifully gives His divine rays of mercy upon us, we will understand what is what. Kṛṣṇa is making harmony for everyone, and everyone’s heart, and everything. To make that harmony He is sometimes destroying a little, sometimes making a little, and sometimes making a little adjustment. yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata abhyutthānam adharamsya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmi aham (Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 4.7) “When the religious world becomes very disturbed, I Myself manifest there as an incarnation and make harmony as soon as possible, so that it is again running in the line of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”
But Kṛṣṇa has given us freedom, and He will not take back that freedom. That is His great mercy. If I need one glass of water and I say to you, “Give me one glass of water”, you can give it to me no doubt, but that is second class service. You have freedom and you can understand through your realisation, “Now you need a little water.” If you will serve with your full freedom then that will be very good for the Lord.
Everyone has very good qualities: Kṛṣṇa has given everyone fifty qualities, and more qualities can also come by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. If you merge into the rāga-mārga, then more than Kṛṣṇa’s quality will come to you. But that is so far. What is existing in vidhi-mārga is not a little bit. Everything is possible by our freedom if we use it wisely and properly.
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is like that. Here is love, here is affection, attachment, and hankering for service is the inspiration, and always activated with the devotee. It is not necessary to unnecessarily advise others there. Everyone is doing their own duty. Where some deficiency is seen, it is also created by Yogamāyā for the divine Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. For the happiness of Kṛṣṇa some deficiency is created by Yogamāyā sometimes, somewhere. But the free will of the devotees is always supplying service for the satisfaction of Lord Kṛṣṇa. That type of world is Goloka Vṛndāvan. Even time is waiting for service. Here time is always passing, and whether you do or don’t do time will pass. But there everything is existing within the mood of service, and so time is also not passing without the inspiration from Yogamāyā. It is written in Brahma-saṁhitā, sa yatra kṣīrābdhiḥ sravati surabhībhyaś cha sumahān nimeṣārdhākhyo vā vrajati na hi yatrāpi samayaḥ (Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā: 5.56)
Half a moment is not passing without service, and without giving inspiration to all for service.
That is the target of our Rūpānuga sampradāya. And that wave, by the grace of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, by the grace of Mādhavendra Purī, by the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and our Guru-paramparā, has come down as the wave of the spiritual service world. It is necessary to connect with that wave in any way. Rūpa Goswāmī Prabhu said, kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā-matiḥ krīyatāṁ yadi kuto ‘pi labhyate tatra laulyam api mūlyam ekalaṁ janma-koṭi-sukṛtair na labhyate (Padyavali: 14)
[“Purchase ecstatic devotion to Krishna wherever it is available! The only price is hankering. It is not attainable by acting piously (practising vidhi-bhakti) for ten million lifetimes.”]
You can connect with that wave if you have extreme hankering and greed for that. Spoken by Srila Gurudev in Italy, September 2000.
This is a continuation of Real Friendship
Srimad Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaj shares a heart-touching exchange with Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, highlighting the significance of serving the Vaisnava.
mp3 audio
English with Italian translation by Munindra Mohan Prabhu.
Volume 1, Number 3, May–June 1992 edition of the Vaishnava Toshani magazine. pdf format epub format
Contents: The true progress of knowledge by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur A friendship of substance by His Divine Grace B.R. Sridhara Dev-Goswami Maharaja Theosophy ends in Vaishnavism by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada The conception of consciousness by His Divine Grace Srila B.S. Govinda Maharaj, President Acharya Our connection to the line by Swami B.P. Janardan Divine slavery—the ultimate freedom by Swami B.K. Giri A simple solution by Srutasrava dasa Mercy not justice by Sarvabhavana dasa Racism and mercy by Swami B.P. Janardan Tales from the East, part two: the Holy Name by Mathuranath dasa
Previous editions uploaded: Jan–Feb 1992 Vol 1 No 1 March–April 1992 Vol 1 No 2
The normal, wholesome, and happy plane is in the life of dedication. Without exploiting or borrowing anything from the environment, and without attempting to artificially renounce it, one who is sincere to dedicate himself naturally comes into contact with a higher and more subtle plane of life.
All glory to the Divine Master
and the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya
Foreword
Because the soul is a particle of consciousness, it is endowed with free will. Eliminating free will, only gross matter remains. Without independence, the soul could not progress from bondage to liberation, and his ultimate salvation would have been impossible. But his spirit of exploitation is a foreign force, an intoxicant—a miscalculation that surrounds his independence.
Life’s objectives may be scientifically analysed as threefold: exploitation, renunciation, and dedication. The most common tendency is in those engaged in exploiting other persons, species, or elements, for mundane sense enjoyment. They desire to materially elevate themselves in the present environment, and thus they are described as elevationists. A more sober class discover the severe equal and opposite reactions to worldly pursuits, and they engage in renunciation of the world, in search of an equilibrium comparable to a deep, dreamless slumber. By being unawake to the world, they hope to escape its concomitant reactions and sufferings. Thus their goal is liberation, and they are known as salvationists or liberationists. But through the correct interpretation of the revealed scriptures by learned votaries such as Sri Sanatan Goswami, Sri Jiva Goswami, and Sri Ramanuja, the devotees of divinity know the pursuits of both exploitation and renunciation as not only fruitless, but injurious to real progress.
The normal, wholesome, and happy plane is in the life of dedication. Without exploiting or borrowing anything from the environment, and without attempting to artificially renounce it, one who is sincere to dedicate himself naturally comes into contact with a higher and more subtle plane of life. By his readiness to give and serve, he will attain to a higher society and achieve an appropriate master. The enjoying spirit forces one to be associated with a lower section to control and enjoy. And the renouncing spirit allures even the scholars with its ‘prestigious’ superiority over exploitation. Thus it is more dangerous, just as a half-truth is more dangerous than falsehood. As it is difficult to awaken someone from the deepest possible sleep, the liberationists may remain for incalculable time within their cell of non-differentiated liberation. But the higher existence will invite the service of one who desires to purely dedicate himself without remuneration.
Seva—service, dedication—is the summum bonum of the teachings of the Vaisnava school, the third plane of life where every unit is a dedicating member in an organic whole. In such a normal adjustment, everyone mutually assists one another in their service to the centre, the higher recipient, the highest entity. Everything is existing to satisfy Him, because He must possess this qualification to be the Absolute. He is the prime cause of all causes—and everything exists for Him, to satisfy Him.
What will be the nature, movement, and progress of that which is immortal?
A barren conception of mere ‘deathlessness’ cannot afford us any knowledge of a positive thing, but only freedom from the negative side. If immortality means ‘no influence of mortality,’ what, then, is its positive conception? What will be the nature, movement, and progress of that which is immortal? Without this understanding, immortality is only an abstract idea. Because it does not appear to exhibit the symptoms of death, stone would be ‘more immortal’ than human beings, and conscious entities would be ‘mortal,’ forever denied immortality! What, then, is the positive conception of immortality? How are the immortal ‘immortal?’ What is the positive reality in immortality? How can one become immortal? One must search out his intrinsic location in the universal order. It will not do to attempt to solve only the negative side of life which is full of suffering—birth, death, infirmity, and disease. We should know that there exists a conception of life worth living for. This positive side has been almost totally neglected in general religious views.
The ‘immortality’ professed by the schools of Buddha and Sankaracharya yields no positive life. Their goals are mahanirvana and brahma-sayujya respectively. The Buddhist theory is that after liberation, nothing remains. They crave absolute extinction of material existence (prakrti-nirvana). And the Sankarite monist theory of liberation is to lose one’s individuality by ‘becoming one’ with the non-differentiated aspect of the Absolute. That is, they crave extinction in Brahma (brahma-nirvana). They postulate that when the triad of seer, seen, and seeing (drasta-drsya-darsan), or knower, knowable, and knowledge (jnata-jneya-jnan) culminate at one point, the triad is destroyed (triputi-vinas) and nothing remains.
Material action and reaction ceases in Viraja, the river of passivity, which is located at the uppermost edge of this illusory (mayik) world. And above Viraja is the destination of the Sankarites—the ‘abscissa’ stage or the non-differentiated plane of Brahma, called Brahmaloka, which is located at the lowest edge of the spiritual realm. Both are vague areas of ‘negative immortality.’ Brahmaloka is a marginal or ‘buffer’ state midway between the material and spiritual worlds. Composed of innumerable souls, it is an immortal plane devoid of specific variegatedness (nirvises). It possesses positivity only in the sense that it is a plane of existence, a background (kastha), but in itself it lacks positive development of variegated existence (kala). The nature of the background is oneness, and development woven over it necessitates plurality or a differentiated nature (kala-kasthadi rupena parinama-pradayini—Chandi, Markandeya-purana).
In the Bhagavad-gita (15.16), mutable (ksara) and immutable (aksara) existences are described, representing the personal and the impersonal, the development and the basis, or differentiated and non-differentiated conceptions of general existence. The mutable is represented by the multitude of embodied living beings, while the immutable aspect is the great expanse of the all-accommodating Absolute, Brahma (8.3). In the analysis of worldly action, the most subtle form of unfructified past action, prior to the present tendency (the seedling stage) to sin, has been defined (Brs: 1.1.23) as unknowable, indistinct, and of untraceable origin (kuta). The immutable Brahma aspect of the Absolute is similarly defined as being one-dimensional—undetectable, unspecific, and of no definite colour, sound, or taste; an unknown and unknowable, ‘un-understandable’ stage of existence (kuta). But the Supreme Lord, Krishna, is above both the mutable and immutable existences, and thus His glories are sung throughout the Vedas and in the world as the Purusottam, the Supreme Personality (Bg: 15.18). Sri Sukadev Goswami affirms that in the most remote and distant plane, Lord Krishna is to be found: everywhere is He—the fountainhead of all conceptions (vidura-kasthaya, SB: 2.4.14). He cannot be eliminated.
In Vaisnavism, immortality is positive, dynamic existence.
Thus, the ‘immortality’ of the impersonalistic schools, such as Buddhists and Sankarites, offers no positive life. But in Vaisnavism, immortality is positive, dynamic existence. Above the non-differentiated Brahma aspect of the Absolute, the transcendental, variegated existence begins in the first glimpse of the spiritual sky, the plane known as Paravyoma (Cc: Madhya, 19.153). Situated there in the spiritual plane is the positive kingdom of God: firstly Vaikuntha, then Ayodhya, Dvaraka, Mathura, and finally, above all, Goloka. Transcending the vague areas of ‘negative immortality’ that the impersonalists aspire for, the devotees—the Vaisnavas—dedicate themselves to the life of eternal devotional service to the Supreme Lord of the transcendental realm (Bg: 18.54). Although the soul can maladopt himself to a fallen state of existence in the planes of exploitation and renunciation, he is inherently adoptable to the positive life in the kingdom of God. And fully blossomed, he reaches the realm of Goloka (svarupe sabara haya Golokete sthiti—Sri Sri Krsnera Astottara-sata-nama). Sri Prapanna-jivanamrtam: amrta means ‘undying,’ or ‘nectar,’ and jivana means ‘life.’ Positive immortality is possible only for the surrendered (prapannanam). All others are necessarily mortal. Only those who have wholly given themselves to the centre are living in eternality. Surrender is fully established in its excellence and its constant position. Yet there is variegatedness within that constancy, in the form of progressive movement, or Pastimes (vilas). The Supreme Absolute Personality being infinitely superior to both the mutable ‘mortals’ and the immutable ‘immortal’ (negative) Brahma, only the svarup-siddha souls—those who are perfectly established in their divine relationship with Him—are eternally freed from the disease of mutation and mortality (svarupena-vyavasthitih, SB: 2.10.6).
With a broad vision, we must know ourselves as created of smaller stuff, and thus only with assistance from above can we improve our situation and achieve a position in the higher plane. A submissive, serving attitude is necessary in us. If we submit, the universal dictatorial aspect of the Absolute will take us upward to a higher prospect. He is the autocrat, the absolute knowledge, the absolute good—everything about Him is absolute. Being in a vulnerable position as we experience in this world, why, then, should we not submit to Him?
Detachment is only the negative side of surrender, and above selflessness, the devotee surrenders himself to the higher substance.
The road to the sphere of transcendence (adhoksaja) is the deductive or descending method (avaroha-pantha). We can reach the absolute good, the absolute will, by His consent alone. Only by faith in absolute surrender is anyone allowed entry into that domain, never by ‘exploration,’ by ‘colonisation,’ or by attempting to become a ‘monarch’ there. No inductive or ascending method (aroha-pantha), such as renunciation or yoga, can compel Him to accept us. Whosoever He chooses can alone reach Him (Svet. 6.23). Although the highest point of the renunciates is desirelessness or freedom from possessiveness, the surrendered soul (saranagata) is naturally desireless (akinchan, Cc: Madhya, 22.99). Detachment is only the negative side of surrender, and above selflessness, the devotee surrenders himself to the higher substance, and this is to be awake in another world, another plane of life. Such is the positive, Vaisnava conception of life—to determine one’s real self beyond the jurisdiction of the world of misconception.
The nature of the progressive substance is eternal existence, knowledge, and beauty (sach-chid-ananda). The one harmonising organic whole (advaya-jnan-tattva) contains all similarities and differences, held inconceivably in the hand of the Absolute (achintya-bhedabheda-tattva). And there is no anarchy in the absolute power. Nonetheless, mercy is found to be above justice. Above judiciousness, the supreme position is held by love, sympathy, and beauty: ‘I am the absolute power, but I am friendly to you all. Knowing this, you need never fear’ (Bg: 5.29). This revelation relieves us of all apprehension: we are not victims of a chaotic environment, but it is judicious, considerate—and the ultimate dispenser is our friend.
Sri Jiva Goswami has stated that of the six symptoms of surrender, to embrace the guardianship of the Lord (goptrtve varanam) is central, since total surrender expresses the same ideal. The remaining five symptoms of accepting the favourable, rejecting the unfavourable, faith in the Lord’s protection, full self-surrender, and humility, are natural contributing associate-servitors to the ideal (angangi-bhedena sad-vidha; tatra ‘goptrtve varanam’ evangi, saranagati-sabdenaikarthyat; anyani tv angani tat parikaratvat—Bsd: 236).
Surrender is the foundation of the world of devotion. It is the very life and essence. One cannot enter into that domain without surrender. It must be present in every form of service, and to attempt divine service without it will be mere imitation or a lifeless formality. The entire gist of the Vedic instruction is to dedicate oneself to the service of the Lord. In his commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam, Sri Sridhar Swamipad has stated that only if the practises of devotion are initially offered to the Supreme Lord can they be recognised as devotion. To attempt to execute them and subsequently offer them cannot be pure devotion (iti nava laksanani yasyah sa adhitena ched Bhagavati Visnau bhaktih kriyate. sa charpitaiva sati yadi kriyeta na tu krta sati paschad arpyeta.).Without surrender, the activity will be adulterated with exploitation, renunciation, artificial meditation (karma, jnan, yoga), and so on.
His mercy—His sympathy, love, and grace—are the only medium through which we can come together.
By constitution, the soul is the Lord’s servant, and the Lord has the right to make or mar, to do anything according to His sweet will. If accepting this truth we undertake the devotional practises such as hearing, chanting, remembering, and worshipping, only then will our activity be devotional. Only the activity of the self-dedicated soul can be devotion. Sincere prayer will help us to seek the help of the Lord, but, again, prayer in the spirit of surrender can alone reach Him (Sa: 1.5). The path of devotion entails increasing our negative status to invite the positive to descend and embrace us: ‘I am very low, and You are so high. You can purify me, take me, and utilise me for Your higher purpose. Be pleased. Otherwise I am helpless, neglected.’ It is impossible to take Him captive in the cage of our knowledge. Only the way of devotion can help us. In every respect He is high, great, and infinite—and we are similarly small. His mercy—His sympathy, love, and grace—are the only medium through which we can come together. And good faith is autonomous in that sweet land which is so high that we will earnestly hope and pray for the association of the higher existence as His slave; and that also will be our happy prospect for the future.
To satisfy the Supreme Lord, the criterion is to satisfy our Gurudev.
Krishna is not within our purview, and thus we are always recommended by scriptures and saints to approach the bona fide Divine Master and Vaisnavas. To satisfy the Supreme Lord, the criterion is to satisfy our Gurudev: if Gurudev is dissatisfied with us, the Lord is surely dissatisfied. An analogy has been cited in the scriptures where the Lord is compared to the sun, the Guru to a pond, and the disciple to a lotus flower. If the pond withdraws, the very sun will scorch and dry up the lotus—and the lotus will be cheered by the sun as long as the water supports and surrounds it. yasya prasadad bhagavat prasado yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto ’pi dhyayam stuvams tasya yasas tri-sandhyam vande guroh sri-charanaravindam (Sri Gurvastakam: 8)
“I bow down to the lotus feet of Sri Gurudev. By his grace we achieve the grace of Krishna; without his grace, we are lost. Therefore, at daybreak, noon, and evening, we meditate upon and sing the glories of Sri Gurudev, and pray for his mercy.”
By an earnest desire to serve, we draw his sympathy and his willing extension of goodwill to encourage us in our relationship with the supreme entity.
The Vaisnava Guru’s dealings with the disciple are all grace, and his grace is his will to extend his wealth to the disciple. His instruction is the medium of asserting his will, which is service for the satisfaction of the Lord. And by service, we invite his grace. By an earnest desire to serve, we draw his sympathy and his willing extension of goodwill to encourage us in our relationship with the supreme entity. Firstly, surrender: we must offer him exclusive respect (pranipat), otherwise we shall not allow ourselves to approach him. Secondly, we may make our sincere and substantial enquiry (pariprasna). In a surrendered spirit, we may hear our Divine Master’s messages which he delivers to us from his venerated seat, the Vyasasan. In that conducive setting, the proper inspiration and dictation may fortuitously come down to us. And finally, to render service (sevaya) enables us to taste the essence (Bg: 4.34).
On the instruction of his Gurudev Devarsi Narad, Vyasadev had to undergo a progressive development (SB: 1.5). Narad is established in non-calculative devotion (jnana-sunya-bhakti, or jnana-vimukta-bhakti-paramah), and above Narad is Uddhava, who is established in exclusive divine love for Krishna (premaika-nisthah). Until one reaches Goloka, where there is full-fledged Krishna conception, all other stages may be changeable. There is no further change when one is firmly established in his serving relationship with the Original Lord (Svayam Bhagavan), Krishna. In the narrative of Brhad-bhagavatamrtam, Gopa Kumar passes through Vaikuntha, Ayodhya, Mathura, Dvaraka, and then he finally arrives in Vrndavan. There, his particular divine relationship with the Lord firmly culminates in friendship (sakhya-rasa). For him, the previous stages were passing, although for others a permanent relationship may occur in one of them. They are progressive stages of ‘positive immortality’.
On the banks of the Godavari River, in progressively deeper and deeper planes, the entirety of theological development was expressed in the conversation between Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Ramananda Ray. A positive hierarchy of divine relationships with the Lord exists in progressive stages for the various types of devotees (karmibhyah … kah krti, Up: 10), each type having its characteristic central relationship (Vaikunthaj … viveki na kah, Up: 9). In the divine realm, the depth and degree of surrender may also be measured according to the science of mellows (rasa-tattva): peacefulness, servitorship, friendship, parenthood, and consorthood (santa-, dasya-, sakhya-, vatsalya-, madhura-rasa) are the natural divisions, each consecutively of a finer layer. And higher than even the direct consorthood of the Godhead is the most elevated of the entire compass of devotional services—the divine service of the supreme predominated moiety (Sri Radha-dasya).
According to the intensity of surrender—to the point of no return—the quality of the magnitude of truth encountered may be measured.
According to the intensity of surrender—to the point of no return—the quality of the magnitude of truth encountered may be measured. The inner sweetness of the truth and its infinite characteristic attracts the devotees’ hearts to the highest degree, so much that they never feel any satisfaction of achievement in what is actually the acme of their highest fortune. In Vaikuntha, only peacefulness and servitorship are present, with a hint of friendship. If we commit the offence of giving more attention to law than to love, we will be ‘cast down’ from Goloka to Vaikuntha: Goloka is the land of love, and there the inhabitants know nothing more. And by love is meant self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness for the service of Krishna, without a care for one’s good or bad future—total risk in the extreme.
In his Bhakti-sandarbha, Sri Jiva Goswami defines Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as more than “Lord Narayan of Vaikuntha, the most powerful in all phases.” Above that, His existence, appearance, and nature attract everyone to serve Him, love Him, and die for Him (bhajaniya-guna-visista). His qualification is so beautiful. Thus, the highest conception of the Godhead is the Krishna conception, and He can be known by the devotees in Krishna consciousness. Those who serve and worship the Supreme Lord according to the scriptural regulation and calculation belong to the category of Vaikuntha worship. In Vaikuntha, in the initial transcendental conscious conception (adhoksaja), the Godhead as Lord Narayan accepts reverential service in His majestic dignity. But the devotees of the highest order are exclusively surrendered to the service of Lord Krishna with their innermost love and faith.
Not power, but affection is the highest force to attract us all. Consciously or unconsciously, the absolute position is held by love and affection.
The Krishna conception of Goloka Vrndavan is corroborated in the Srimad Bhagavatam, which is the greatest interpretation of the Vedic scriptures. And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is known to be Krishna Himself, united with His highest potency, Sri Radha. Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanyadev has clearly revealed that the genuine interpretation and purpose of all the revealed scriptures is to faithfully guide us to the highest goal: the domain of love and unconditional surrender unto the central power of truth, personified in Lord Krishna as beauty and affection. Not power, but affection is the highest force to attract us all. Consciously or unconsciously, the absolute position is held by love and affection, and love is superior to all power and knowledge. It is the real fulfilment of the inner heart. Our inner existence wants only love, beauty, and affection—neither knowledge nor power. The finite cannot capture the infinite, but the infinite can make Himself known to the finite. And when the infinite appears as a member of the finite land, the highest gain of the finite is achieved. Krishna carries His father’s shoes, and He cries when chastised by His mother. Through love, the Absolute comes down to the finite.
The infinite’s most intimate approach to the finite is found in Vrndavan. The infinite comes to embrace the finite in its fullest capacity (aprakrta), mixing with finite things so closely that people cannot perceive the Lord’s transcendental Godly character as the divinity. We, the infinitesimal souls, can attain our greatest fortune when the infinite comes to us in His highest approach—as if He were one of us! His approach is so merciful, so great, so intimate, and so perfect.
This is slavery to the great force of love and beauty.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is sweetness and magnanimity combined, openly announced that we are all natural slaves of the highest entity (Cc: Madhya, 20.108). But this is slavery to the great force of love and beauty. It is the greatest fortune to be utilised in any way by the absolute existence, knowledge, and beauty—to be in harmony with the highest centre. No one is forced or barred, but this is the soul’s intrinsic nature.
Faithfully in the divine succession from Nitya-lila-pravista Om Visnupad Paramahamsa Astottara-sata Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupad, especially inspired by the divine message of Srila Thakur Bhakti Vinod’s Saranagati, and attending the authentic Gaudiya Vaisnava literatures such as Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa and Bhakti-sandarbha as well as the writings of other authorised divine successions such as the Ramanuja sampradaya—this Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamrtam has been compiled in order to supply the devotees’ spiritual sustenance and nourishment. Surrender is the indispensable necessity in the life of a devotee, and Life-Nectar of the Surrendered Souls will sustain and fortify the surrendered souls as the nectar in their lives of positive and progressive immortality.
They want to know how many hands Mahavishnu has, they want to know how many legs Nrsimhadev has, they want to know how Nrsimhadev is eating. They are reading so many big, big things somewhere, and someone is hearing, “Prabhupad said this, Prabhupad said that”; someone is telling, “This scripture said this, this scripture said that”—but nothing will come for my spiritual benefit!
The following response came in a very particular way: after patiently responding to repeated technical questions regarding the tatastha-sakti and the nature of the jiva’s fall to the material world, His Divine Grace suddenly segued into a discussion about the difficulty some devotees face with drugs and habits of intoxication, and how they can best overcome this. When a listener then asked Srila Gurudev for further advice on this point, Srila Gurudev responded with a strong reprimand on the knowledge-seeking attempt in devotional life—clearly speaking not to the immediate question at hand (which had really already been answered), but rather to the previous persons who had persisted in pressing His Divine Grace for details on the nature of the jiva’s fall.
Download mp3 audio Question: We are living in this Western society and more or less we are all like victims, prone to fall prey of the material environment. What is the remedy? We need some forceful advice, some stronger medicine, to help us become free of this. Srila Gurudev: It is difficult to give forceful advice. I can give that stronger medicine. I know that medicine, but I cannot give that. That is not only your question, it is my question to myself. I need to do good for my friends. Who is taking initiation from me is my disciple and I have responsibility for my disciples. I must try to give relief my disciples first. That is my duty.
The remedy is a very simple remedy, given by Srimad Bhagavat, and I can say it to whoever is under control of me. If he or she will follow me blindly then they will get the remedy. It is very simple. Krishna gave that method to the devotees, and Mahaprabhu Himself happily accepted that remedy. But if I shall say it [publicly] in the meeting no one will learn happily. No one will learn my teachings. My disciples will learn, because I am with them from the beginning; but I also have some general responsibility for others, and their prescription must be another prescription. But actually, the real prescription is what was given by Srimad Bhagavat, what was given by Mahaprabhu. That is the real prescription, but who will learn it, who will hear it, and who will follow it?
They want to know how many hands Mahavishnu has, they want to know how many legs Nrsimhadev has, they want to know how Nrsimhadev is eating. They are reading so many big, big things somewhere, and someone is hearing, “Prabhupad said this, Prabhupad said that”; someone is telling, “This scripture said this, this scripture said that”—but nothing will come for my spiritual benefit! We are publishing so many big, big books, showing our knowledge, “I am doing this, I am doing that”, but I am not taking any instruction from my instructor or any instruction from my friend.
I am living in the ‘higher plane’, that is the egoist temple. But it is first necessary to blast that egoist plane. jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva jīvanti
This sloka is the remedy. Mahaprabhu gave this, and Mahaprabhu accepted this. sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaranaṁ vraja
Even this verse Mahaprabhu did not happily accept. If you read Ramananda Ray and Mahaprabhu’s conversation you will see.
It is not necessary to know everything. It is not necessary to make any confusion with any hazy matter. No benefit will come to us through that. Benefit will come if we are surrendered to the Lord, and not only surrendered, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
Mahaprabhu said, “Yes, this is some remedy.” We may have so much knowledge about Bhagavad-gita, about Bhagavat, about Veda, Vedanta, Upanisad, but what is the use of that?
Once a friend of my friend, a magistrate in Puri, was abusing our sampradaya, saying, “If someone has not read Govinda-bhasyam how can he be considered a sannyasi of the sampradaya?” I was very disturbed. In my house he was abusing the Vaishnava sannyasis and I could not tolerate it. I came out from my room and told him, “Oh ‘Mr eligible person’, I read Govinda-bhasyam and how many hands do you see on me? How much hands have you seen on me? You read Govinda-bhasyam, and how many hands have you got? How many hands does your guru, who taught you Govinda-bhasyam, have? Has everyone got chatur-bhuj [a four-handed form]? How much progress have you made after reading Govinda-bhasya? You are a lawyer, you are dealing with material law, and illegally or legally you are doing that. How many hands have you got, that you can abuse the Vaishnavas?”
The fact is this: we may know everything of the scriptures but if we do not know how to swim we will drown in the river. That is the fact in front of us. I am initiating some persons: I want to give them the process through which they can gain liberation from this material world and join in the transcendental world. I am giving them the seeds of what I have heard and what I have received, along with my wellwishes, my blessings, and everything, and they will be promoted with that.
It is necessary to follow a real practising life, and that will come through tṛṇād api sunīchena [being more humble than a blade of grass], taror iva sahiṣṇunā [being tolerant like a tree], amāninā [not expecting respect], mānadena [giving respect].How much are we following that? We need to preach this to them first. Leave your egoistic tendency. jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva jīvanti
Mahaprabhu said it. Srimad Bhagavat said it.
If we want a real practising life it is not necessary to read so many things. It is not necessary to know so many matters. Only how to swim, that is necessary to know! I want to cross the river. But we want to know, “Why is the sun coming out on the east side, and why is it setting on the west side, and why is the air flowing all over the world, why is this star giving that result, and why is that star giving that.” We are trying to collect so much knowledge but we are not trying to collect how to swim.
It is my advice to my friends who are depending upon me, “Be serious for your practising life.” It is not necessary to read so many things. I told you, those three books are sufficient: Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Brahma samhita, and Chaitanya-charitamrta. If someone is a preacher, then under guidance of his Guru, if necessary, he will try to preach something. But always with these three qualities of humility, tolerance, and giving honour to others. Otherwise, the result will not come to us. Srila Gurudev speaking in Italy, August 1999, during the Fourteenth World Tour. Reference jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir
ye prāyaśo ’jita jito ’py asi tais tri-lokyām (Srimad Bhagavatam: 10.14.3)
“In whatever position they may be, those who give up the endeavour for knowledge, surrender to the sadhus, and dedicate their lives bodily, verbally, and mentally to their talks of the Lord, can conquer the Lord, who is otherwise unconquerable.” Spoken by Srila Gurudev in Italy, August 1999, during His Divine Grace’s fourteenth world tour.
“Sometimes we are very enthusiastic but we don’t have a clear idea of what service is: we come to Krishna consciousness with our own conceptions and we try to apply our own ideas of what is ‘good’ and what is ‘spiritual’. When we engage in very deep service, we take all these misconceptions with us, and if we don’t leave them they will take us away, and we will go behind them. If those misconceptions don’t get burned in the fire of sacrifice and we don’t get to the proper conception of service, then we may decide that this is not what we expected and just want to leave. I’ve seen this happen sometimes.
“If you live in your house and chant your mantra you can live very peacefully, but when you do some active service like preaching then so many obstacles will come, from the environment and from within yourself, because the purification of the heart is starting in a serious way.”
—Krishna Kanta Devi Dasi
mp3 audio
The Absolute Truth must be sought out through a real process; otherwise we shall go the wrong way and then say, “Oh, there is nothing here; it is not real.” So, only if we follow this real process of understanding the truth will we experience the real nature of divinity. (Sri Guru and His Grace, chapter one)
Our practice, our advancement, needs all these difficulties. Otherwise we may not know what is progress and we will become hypocrites, and give the same adulterated thing to others. So, to purify ourselves it is necessary that so many disturbances come. (Sri Guru and His Grace, chapter five)
So, what is service proper? Hegel’s philosophy is “die to live”: dissolve your ego as it is at present. Dissolve it mercilessly—die. Die means to dissolve, mercilessly. Throw yourself into the fire and you will come out with a bright self. Learn to die as you are: that mental concocted body, that concocted energy. Take the Name of the Lord and die. Bhakati-vinoda aja apane bhulila. Forget yourself as you are at present, and you will find your proper self there that does not die. Death is ordained for our existence, so give to the death that part of you that is ordained to die, and the eternal part of you will remain. (Sermons of the Guardian of Devotion Vol IV chapter five)
What are the waves of the infinite, what sort of wave will come to touch you from the infinite, the centre of infinite, of love, beauty? Wait and see. Be clear, open, unbiased.
For the satisfaction of Srila Gurudev and the Vaisnavas, we are happy to inaugurate this new series of excerpts from the talks of the Guardian of Devotion, our beloved grand-guru, His Divine Grace Sri Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Deva-Goswami.
Download mp3 audio. mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na chāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ na cha mat-sthāni bhūtāni paśya me yogam aiśvaram (Srimad Bhagavad-gita 9.4–5)
“I am everywhere, everything is in Me; I am nowhere, nothing is in Me. I am not a madman. Try to have an estimation of Myself, Arjuna, what am I.” Has such a bold statement ever come in the world of philosophy? (Chuckling) “I am everywhere, I am nowhere, everything in Me, nothing in Me. Try to ascertain, what am I. This sort of straight, simple, and most perplexing, and impossible possible together. I am there.”
So, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva
jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām
Give up your attempt of measuring Him, but through faith try to approach. You are finite, so how much faith may you have about infinite? Very little. So don’t think that you will be deceived, that your faith will deceive you. You are a teeny person; what is the length and breadth of your faith? In the infinite anything is possible. So don’t be afraid of your blind faith when you come in the search of Krishna, infinite. Only faith can take you there, and no knowledge. It is clearly stated in Bhagavatam. Never approach with the instrument of knowledge. That will deceive you. But through faith Adhoksaja can come down. And if you doubt He may not care to come down to you.
Open, spread wide your heart to receive Him, and prepare yourself for what sort of wonderful lila He may come to show you. Be so much broad. And wait. What are the waves of the infinite, what sort of wave will come to touch you from the infinite, the centre of infinite, of love, beauty? Wait and see. Be clear, open, unbiased. Don’t go to measure with your teeny examples from this finite world of nasty nature. tatra laulyam api mūlyam ekalam
Only your hankering can help you to have a touch of that magnanimous divine thing. If you go to challenge He will not care to come. What is the loss to Him? You are deceived. Go forward with your heart within. jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ
Brahma says “jānanta eva jānantu, those that say they know something, let them enjoy self-deception thereby, but manaso vapuṣo vācho vaibhavaṁ tava go-charaḥ, I could not enter into the very negligent slight point of your acquaintance. This is my finding.” Brahma says like that. “Those puffed up fools, they may talk about anything, they can know this, they can know that, everything can be known, let those fools dance with their foolish tendency. But I am sure that no instrument can have any slight touch of Him.” He is always new, always new, of new characteristic. He is infinite. Finite and infinite are of opposite character.
When we went to preach in Karachi the Arya Samaj thought, “We have got a prey, Vaisnavas are idolaters.” The president came to attack, and he told me, “If the finite can know the infinite then He is not infinite.” It came to my mind immediately, “If infinite cannot make Himself known to finite then He is not infinite.” Just opposite. He made a handshake, “Namaste.”
That is only our solace, that the infinite can make Himself known to the finite. And finite cannot know infinite. So we always foster that characteristic of the infinite, His grace. That should be our fare, our attitude. We have come not to deal with a limited thing. My aspiration is not so base, and mean. I have come in the relativity of the infinite so my behaviour must be according to that. tṛṇād api su-nīchena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā māna-dena
The negative tendency should be increased to attract the positive. “I can’t stay without Your least connection.” With that we have to invite him. “I am din and poor and mean, I am so and so, the meanest fellow, there is no one meaner than myself.” That is the way.
Our Prabhupad used to give an example: in a fair it is seen that a bamboo post is there and it is smeared with oil and ripe plaintain fruit, so it is very slippery; and there is a man on the side who says that if one can climb up he will be given such a reward. And everyone, wherever he catches the pole, he comes down. He cannot go up. The aroha pantha [ascending path] is like that. We cannot go up. It is slippery. We can come down, but we cannot go up.
So we are brave enough to deal with such a thing, we have such audacity. But still the position is there, that it is possible by His grace, the line of His grace; He wants to distribute Himself in a particular line: srauta pantha, guru paramparya. Our necessity is exclusively there with the srauta paramparya, guru paramparya. The knowledge, and the bhajan, everything comes down from infinite to finite and never aroha pantha, from finite to infinite. That should always be the backbone of our movement. So whatever we shall go to do we shall look up to Gurudev, “If you do, it may be done. I have nothing, I am nowhere Sir, I am nowhere.”
Once I found in the history of Ramanuja that he had a sitting with a mayavadi pandit for fourteen days and could not defeat him; he came frustrated to Varadaraja [Deity of Lord Vishnu worshipped in South India], “What am I, I can’t defeat in discussion. For so many days I am trying to argue, but I am nothing, nowhere. I should not go on with my head erect as an acharya of the sampradaya.” He prayed at Varadaraja’s temple. And the next day, no sooner had he begun a slight talk, than that gentleman expressed his defeat. He clearly showed, “Yes, I have understood what you have said. I am wrong, and what you say is right.” Easily that man was defeated.
So, devotees are always expectant upward, “By Guru’s will: I have got nothing. Nothing. He may do through me. If I go to assert myself I shall not only be defeated, but I shall also be lost. But when I shall go to show even a proud attitude in the name of my Guru, and sincerely, then it will be bhajan. It will help me and others also.” The tendency will be to take power from above; the attempt of the acharyas will always be to bring things from above, from their guru. “By your grace.” Always dependent. He can never say, “I am in possession of the potency, power.” No. jagāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha
purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha
[“I am more sinful than Jagāi and Mādhāi and even lower than the worms in the stool.”] mora nāma śune yei tāra puṇya kṣaya
mora nāma laya yei tāra pāpa haya (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta: 1.5.205-6)
[“Anyone who hears my name loses the results of his pious activities. Anyone who utters my name becomes sinful.”]
The conception of the ego of the negativity is so intense. “I am such. But Nityananda Prabhu is great, He is patita-pavan, and so I have got.” ye yathā patita haya tava dayā tathodaya tathā āmi supātra dayā
“I can claim because I am the most fallen. I think I realise that I am the most fallen. I have got the greatest claim for your grace, mercy.” That should be the attitude of a real devotee. As mean as one conceives, has a conception of himself, so great he is in the eye of the devotees. Dainya. Hankering, laulyam, hankering, arti, that is their wealth, the wealth of the devotees, it is there. “I am proud of the power of my Gurudev and never of myself.” That should be the attitude of the devotee. Spoken by Srila Param Guru Maharaj, 28 February 1981, Sri Nabadwip Dham.
