NEWSLETTER about HIS HOLINESS TAMAL KRISHNA GOSWAMI
(Referred to as Srila Gurudeva)
September 13, 2000

Srila Gurudeva recently celebrated Sri Krishna Janmastami and Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-puja at New Vraja Dhama, Hungary. This beautiful temple and farm community situated in the hills of Somogvyamos has been named Krishna-Volgy, or "the valley of Krishna". Eight disciples flew from England with Gurudeva to Hungary on Tuesday August 22nd, and returned on Friday the 25th. They included Kirtida dasi, Visvambhara dasa, Gopal Raja dasa, Syamala Sakhi dasi, Yamuna Jaya dasi, Nakula dasa, Vicaru dasa & Sarvabhauma dasa. Other disciples who attended the festival were Radhika dasi, an Indian disciple currently living in Zurich, Switzerland; Acarya Sakti dasa and Bhaktin Noa from Israel; Sri Hari dasa & his wife Candra Laxsmi from Rotterdam, Holland; Bhakta Chris & Radikatma dasa from Amsterdam, and Radha Sharana dasi from Slovenia.

Just as last year, the festival was wonderfully organized. Srila Gurudeva was refreshed and enlivened to associate with his dear god brother Sivarama Swami Maharaja and to imbibe the sweet Vrndavan atmosphere created by the ecstatic Hungarian devotees. Also attending this year were HH Bhakti Balabha Puri Maharaja from Scotland, HH Bhakti Vidyapurna Maharaja and His Grace Tattva-vit Prabhu, a disciple of Prabhupada who does editorial and writing work.

Special features of the festival were the incredibly innovative decorations on both Sri Sri Radha-Syamasundar's altar and Srila Prabhupada's vyasasana. On Janmastami Sri Sri Radha-Syamasundar were artistically decorated with one thousand peacock feathers, in the style of Krishna as a male peacock and Radha like a peahen. Srila Gurudeva led a kirtan with the 'surrender-loka' melody, then gave the main morning class, speaking from Caitanya Caritamrta. At one point Sivarama Maharaja's personal Deities Sri Sri Dayal Nitai Gaura Hari were brought into the temple and set up on a table. Srila Gurudeva then described the stunning beauty of the Gaura-Nitai Deities of the same name in the Philippines. After the class a devotee brought four copies of Sivarama Maharaja's new book on Krishna lila. Gurudeva agreed to auction off the books to raise money for the Hungarian yatra. By his expertise he quickly inspired the devotees to pay high prices for each book. The local devotees appreciated Srila Gurudeva's auctioning expertise very much.

Throughout the festival, especially in the evenings, there were wonderful sitting-down kirtans in the temple room with about six or seven microphones set up. These were led by Sivarama Swami on the harmonium and accompanied by Hungarian devotees who played violin, saxophone and flute. Gaurangi dasi and her father Jayadeva Prabhu (both from London) sang, Jayadeva also played a portable jimbay type drum he held between his legs. Madhava dasa, who stays in Zurich, led some of the kirtans, very sweetly playing the harmonium and singing 'Aindra Prabhu' melodies, he also expertly played the mrdanga. During these kirtans beautiful signs on high poles, one saying Radhe, the other saying Syama, were spread throughout the temple. The ladies were waving the signs saying Radhe; the men were waving the Syama sings. It was reminiscent of a political convention where the candidates' names are waved enthusiastically. But this was the real, pure thing. Radha and Krishna are the original and pure leaders worthy of the votes of our hearts. Puri Maharaja led many of the standing up kirtans during the two days, in a very powerful and sweet style.

At noon on Janmastami day a Siva-linga of Gopesvara Mahadeva was installed in a special ceremony outside the temple. HH Bhakti Vidyapurna Maharaja conducted the abhiseka, and other rituals of installation, assisted by Sivarama Maharaja and other senior devotees. The Siva-linga was installed in a small temple outside the main temple as the protector of the dhama.

At midnight on Janmastami Srila Gurudeva fanned Sri Sri Radha-Syamasundar while Puri Maharaja performed the arati ceremony. An amazingly beautiful kaleidoscope of moving colored lights cast a sublime illumination on the altar and extended over much of the temple. Gurudeva then honored the ekadasi feast with his god brothers and all the assembled devotees.

On Vyasa-puja day the specially decorated vyasasana of Srila Prabhupada was unveiled at the morning guru puja. When Gurudeva saw the vyasasana and temple altar he said, this was probably the most spectacular darshan he has ever had. Prabhupada's vyasasana had been transformed into a wonderful boat. "ISKCON" was painted on its sides in large letters and Sri Sri Dayal Nitai Gaura Hari stood in the bow. Prabhupada, as captain of the ship, sat at the helm, steering the boat to the lotus feet of Radhe Shyam. In fact, a ribbon extended from Radhe Shyam's hands all the way to the bow of the ship (at the rear of the temple). Surrounding the boat for a few feet on each side was a 'plaster-of-Paris' blue ocean, and in it swam various dangerous-looking sharks and fish, each one named after a formidable enemy of suddha-bhakti, or pure devotional service. There was a vicious-looking shark named Mayavadis, a killer whale named Sahajiyas, another whale titled Karma Kanda, another called Sunyavada, and a huge ugly fish was named Apa-Sampradayas. There were several small human figures in soldier uniforms either drowning in the ocean, or trying to save themselves. The Mayavadi shark was sinking his teeth into one man's leg as he tried desperately to grab a rope.

On the lower bow of the boat were two red-and-white life rafts, one on each side, marked "ISKCON". From each side of the boat, safety nets extended into the water. A few fortunate souls were able to climb from the dangerous waters onto the boat via these nets. Attached to the nets were a series of small photographs. One photo showed Hungarian devotees doing a sitting hari nama at a park or university. Through such hari nama many souls in Hungary have been pulled out of the ocean of material existence and were in the temple today. Once on the boat, captained by Srila Prabhupada, they can be carried to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Syamasundar. Of course, the boat directly faced the altar and behind Their Lordships (this morning) stood a tall lighthouse with a revolving light, as a beacon. [This is reminiscent how the ISKCON temple in Dallas is near "Beacon Street" and is a beacon light to attract souls in another part of the world to Radha-Kalachandji]. On the net another picture showed a Hungarian mataji performing bharat natyam dance at a cultural program. Through such cultural presentations, many other souls have been attracted to the boat of ISKCON as well. Another photo showed an old lady reading one of the Prabhupada's books, and thus he was personally inviting her-via the book distribution-to join his spiritual pleasure cruise to Goloka. On another part of the life-saving net was a picture of a devotee mother with her baby, and a picture of devotee children. By raising the children with a loving atmosphere they may also be inspired, as they grow up, to remain on, or connected to, the ISKCON boat, and in fact to help power and steer it with their fresh enthusiasm in the coming generations.

Finally, there were many photos of devotees attached to the top edge of the boat, indicating that they were already in the boat of ISKCON. The photos included Srila Gurudeva, Indradyumna Maharaja, Sivarama Maharaja, Jayapataka Maharaja, etc. as well as many regular devotees, bhaktas, bhaktins, men, women and children alike-all safely situated in the boat of ISKCON. And before we forget: many of the six gopis on the altar held signs, which read, "Jaya Prabhupada!"; Lord Syamasundar held a sign which read, "sarva dharma parityagya mam ekam saranam vraja"; and Radharani held a sign which read, "anayaradhito nunam bhagavan harir isvarah yan no vihaya govinda," which means, "Dear friends, the gopi who has been taken away by Krishna to a secluded place must have worshiped the Lord more than anyone else." (S.B. 10.30.28). Lord Caitanya held the sign, "pritivite ache yata nagaradi gram, sarvatra pracara hobe more nama."

Srila Gurudeva gave the main Vyasa-puja talk, followed by shorter ones by Puri Maharaja and Sivarama Swami (who expressed his realizations regarding the 'boat theme'). In this newsletter, we will present the first half of Srila Gurudeva's Janmastami lecture transcript. The subsequent newsletters will contain the second half of the transcript and the Vyasa-puja lecture.

JANMASTAMI LECTURE, NEW VRAJA DHAMA,
SOMOGVYAMOS, HUNGARY-23RD AUGUST 2OOO
(Part 1)
Srila Gurudeva: I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lords, Sri Sri Radha Shyamasundar and Their associates; to Their double, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; to Sri Nityananda Prabhu (His immediate expansion and dear most brother), to our guru parampara, and to our Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada. I offer my most respectful obeisances to my very dear god brothers His Holiness Sivarama Swami Maharaja, His Holiness Puri Maharaja and His Holiness Bhakti Vidyapurna Maharaja, and all the god brothers and god sisters who are here, and to all the assembled Vaisnavas. Praying to all of you, to please help me speak appropriately on this most glorious day. I will be reading some verses from the Caitanya Caritamrta and Srila Prabhupada's purports; if you help me then I will be able to speak something about these important verses which describe the significance of Lord Krishna's Appearance. Sri Caitanaya Caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 4:15 states:

prema-rasa-niryasa karite asvadana
raga-marga bhakti loke karite pracaraëa
rasika-sekhara krsna parama-karuna
ei dui hetu haite icchara udgama

TRANSLATION
"The Lord's desire to appear was born from two reasons: the Lord wanted to taste the sweet essence of the mellows of love of God, and He wanted to propagate devotional service in the world on the platform of spontaneous attraction. Thus He is known as supremely jubilant and as the most merciful of all."

Srila Gurudeva: Although this verse apparently describes Lord Caitanya, we have to understand who Lord Caitanya is; Lord Caitanya is the expression of the inner mood of Lord Krishna-Shyamasundar. It is only by the mercy and grace of Mahaprabhu's appearance that we have come to understand the inner feelings of Krishna. If it were not for Caitanya Mahaprabhu's appearance we could not understand why it was that Krishna appeared within this world. Although Srila Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami Maharaja is apparently describing the reasons for the appearance of Lord Caitanya, in fact he is also explaining the reasons for the appearance of Lord Krishna. Similarly, in doing so, he is telling us the reasons for our appearance. Of course, we may take it that we have come into this world to fulfill our karma, that is true in terms of our worldly birth from our father and mother in this lifetime. But, with our birth at initiation-when we are accepted by a spiritual father and a spiritual mother-our birth and appearance have a totally different purpose.

On the passport of Srila Prabhupada, where it mentioned his father's name, he does not write Gaur Mohan De. He says, "Sriman Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura." So we must understand that our spiritual master is our spiritual father, and the Vedic literatures are our spiritual mother. "Vedic literature" means all of our devotional texts, which are also in pursuance of the Vedic version. So with these parents we have a new purpose in our life; this purpose is revealed by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu when He teaches us all about Krishna's appearance and inner mood.

When you get your worldly father and mother it is not by chance. Similarly, when you get a spiritual father, and mother Veda, it is not by chance, but it is by the arrangement of Krishna. guru krishna prasade pai bhakti lata bija, by the arrangement of Krishna one gets guru; and by the arrangement of guru one gets Krishna. So, the kind of guru you get, is going to determine the results you attain. As we look upon the guru parampara… we see that they all give a particular fruit. That fruit is growing on a tree, which is at the center; that tree is Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He is the tree and He is the gardener of the tree. His work is to take the fruits from the tree and to distribute them so that others can also relish. The fruit of this tree is Krishna prema. And prema is now the subject that we need to discuss.

Love for Krishna is what distinguishes our parampara, and the particular type of love for Krishna--vraja prema, the love of the residents of Vraja-is what makes our guru parampara known for what it is. Then the next verse we will discuss:

aisvarya-jnanete saba jagat misrita
aisvarya-sithila-preme nahi mora prita

TRANSLATION
[Lord Krsna thought:] "All the universe is filled with the conception of My majesty, but love weakened by that sense of majesty does not satisfy Me." (CC Adi 4:17)

Srila Gurudeva: There are bona fide paramparas besides ours, but most of them are able to award only the kind of love which is very majestic, which is declared by Krishna to, not be satisfactory to Him. In the Brhat-Bhagavatamrta, we hear the story of Gopa Kumar. When he reached up to Vaikuntha the residents there were surprised when he called out, "Hey, Gopal!" They could not appreciate the sort of love that Gopa Kumar had in his heart. But Lord Narayana appreciated it, because Lord Narayana is the expansion of Lord Krishna. So Gopa Kumar had something in his heart that was only able to be reposed upon Krishna. Now it is explained:

amare isvara mane, apanake hina
tara preme vasa ami na ha-i adhina

TRANSLATION
"If one regards Me as the Supreme Lord and himself as a subordinate, I do not become subservient to his love, nor can it control Me." (CC Adi 4:18)

Srila Gurudeva: In all the religions of the world God is described as being great-as in Vaikuntha, Gopa Kumar felt Vaikuntha-Narayana to be great. But God is a person, and because He is the Supreme Person, whatever qualities we find in ourselves, He has to the supreme degree. As Prabhupada used to lecture, 'We are all searching after love.' We want to be surrendered to love; we want to be captured by love. So Krishna the Supreme Person wants to be captured by love, and He wants that love to be so intense that He feels subordinate to it and becomes controlled by it.

As we see, mother Yasoda could take her child and tie Him up with ropes of love. Or as this picture [on the temple wall] shows, Nanda Maharaja can place Krishna on his lap and place a sweet in His mouth. In the Brahma-samhita it is described that the processes of jnana, karma and yoga cannot possibly reach up to… can barely even see the shining effulgence from the toenails of Krishna, who is the darling of mother Yasoda. So practically, the whole world is practicing a religion that may be very great and glorious, but it does not attract the heart of our Krishna.

Everybody in the world has a family who they love; every woman has a husband who she loves, the husband has a wife who he loves; parents have children they love and children love their parents. But each one of them feels that there is something special about the person they love. So we feel that there's something special about the person we love as God-our Krishna. We offer our respects to all the other gods and goddesses, whether they are in our understanding like Lord Narayana or Vishnu; whether they may be demigods or demigoddesses, we offer our obeisances to all of them and to their devotees. But we only want to know about our God, our dearmost Krishna. And whatever people may say about Krishna we don't care.

Just like when the gopis were searching for Krishna (when Krishna had left the rasa dance), and they came and asked the trees, "Have you seen our Krishna?" They asked the birds, "Have you seen our Krishna?" And even they asked Krishna, who was looking like Narayana, they went "namo narayana,"-"have you seen Krishna? Can you tell us where He is?" That Person which Dhruva Maharaja hankered to see, that Person who Narada Muni hankers to see, that Person who all the greatest of the great Vaisnavas hanker to see-the gopis practically did not even see [ie. pay attention to] Narayana, they just went "namo narayana," "where's Krishna?" So it is this Krishna who we are solely interested in. And it is this Krishna who says, "I can only be known by those who learn to conquer Me."

amake ta' ye ye bhakta bhaje yei bhave
tare se se bhave bhaji,--e mora svabhave

TRANSLATION
"In whatever transcendental mellow My devotee worships Me, I reciprocate with him. That is My natural behavior." (CC Adi 4:19)

PURPORT: "The Lord, by His inherent nature, reveals Himself before His devotees according to their inherent devotional service. The Vrndavana pastimes demonstrated that although generally people worship God with reverence, the Lord is more pleased when a devotee thinks of Him as His pet son, personal friend or most dear fiance and renders service unto Him with such natural affection. The Lord becomes a subordinate object of love in such transcendental relationships. Such pure love of Godhead is unadulterated by any tinge of superfluous non-devotional desires and is not mixed with any sort of fruitive action or empiric philosophical speculation. It is pure and natural love of Godhead, spontaneously aroused in the absolute stage. This devotional service is executed in a favorable atmosphere freed from material affection."

Srila Gurudeva: Here the important phrase is "spontaneously aroused." Spontaneous combustion, something explodes of its own accord. When two bamboos, for example, strike each other, a spark is produced because of the combination. Or better yet, when we mix two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, it immediately becomes bonded into water. So with the right circumstances this sort of spontaneous devotion naturally will arise. This sort of natural love for Krishna can only be found in one place, it is within the heart of those who have it. It cannot be imported from anything outside of a devotee's heart. It can come out of a devotee's heart and then you can become affected by it. No matter how much you may perform regulative principles, without the spark of spontaneous devotion from the spontaneous bhakta, it is not possible to transform vaidhi bhakti into raga marga. There are elements within the vaidhi sadhana, which are conducive to the production of raganuga bhakti. Especially there are five aspects of sadhan,a which are said in the Nectar of Devotion to be the most potent forms of bhakti. Most potent, because, they particularly are what will help you to capture Krishna. They are (1) to reside in Vraja; (2) to hear and recite Srimad Bhagavatam in the association of spontaneous devotees; (3) to chant in the company of such devotees; (4) to worship the Deity of Radha and Krishna, again in such association; and (5) sadhu-sangananda, the whole point of sadhu-sanga.

So obviously this was Prabhupada's desire that we create these five favorable situations, and then create this spontaneous love for Krishna-without which you cannot become Krishna conscious. You can become Laksmi-Narayana conscious, but you won't become Krishna conscious. Since this is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, it is very important that we understand what it is that Krishna is teaching us in these verses. He is making the most confidential secret of the Vedas open. He is going to tell us what it takes to capture Him, and every one of our acaryas in our line have simply written on this secret. They have simply expanded this secret, but really they want it to be an open secret. In the Caitanya Caritamrta it is described that the Panca-Tattva danced and chanted, and 'They broke open the storehouse of love of God.' Now he has quoted a verse from Bhagavad-gétä,

ye yatha mam prapadyante
tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
mama vartmanuvartante
manusyah pärtha sarvasah

TRANSLATION
"'In whatever way My devotees surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Påthä.' (Bhagavad-gita 4.11)

And now we hear the explanation:

mora putra, mora sakha, mora praëa-pati
ei-bhave yei more kare suddha-bhakti
apanake baòa mane, amare sama-hina
sei bhave ha-i ami tahara adhina

TRANSLATION
"If one cherishes pure loving devotion to Me, thinking of Me as his son, his friend or his beloved, regarding himself as great and considering Me his equal or inferior, I become subordinate to him." (CC Adi 4:21-22)

Srila Gurudeva: Now how will it be possible for us to think of ourselves as greater than God? We are so insignificant that without breathing oxygen we would die in a moment. Just like those Russian submariners-there were 118 of them who died in a submarine because they couldn't get any oxygen. If they had said, 'We are greater than God' it would have been ridiculous. But here, Krishna is declaring that unless someone says he is great and considers Me as an equal or inferior, then he can't understand Me.

In ordinary religious terms this is confusing, but in ordinary daily terms, it should not be hard to understand because everyone recognizes love means to be subordinate to the person you love. However, no one is willing to elevate that understanding of love and apply it to Krishna. But that is the speciality of our tradition; it takes the most common, simple understanding of love and gives it the highest value-the highest meaning of all. Actually, this is very easy to explain even to the most common, uneducated, unsophisticated person. Prabhupada gives a simple explanation: during British Indian times, one big British administrator-a judge-was in his office and people were waiting to see him. There was a long line of dignitaries who couldn't get in until finally one of them was so frustrated they peeked inside to see… so they looked inside the office and found the judge had his grandchild on his back. So here is a simple understanding that this grandfather was more satisfied being slapped on the rear end by his child-and he is subordinate to that grandchild-but all of these big persons were in great fear, waiting for him.

This is the power of love. It should be so easy; it is easy to understand this, but it is very difficult to get this kind of love. If it were easy, we would not be here. But there are so many competing desires in our heart, other than this desire. If we can just make this our only desire then it will be possible. As long as you hold on to other things, you can't get this love. Still, Krishna and his representatives are very merciful; so by the force of attraction they will offer you so much nectar that gradually-even if you don't want to-you will gradually let go of everything else and only hold on to this. As Prabhupada explains in the purport:

PURPORT: "Those who are spontaneously devoted to the Lord and have no aims for material gain are called attracted devotees. They are spontaneously attracted to the service of the Lord, and they follow in the footsteps of self-realized souls. Their pure devotion (suddha-bhakti), manifested from pure love of Godhead, surpasses the regulative principles of the authoritative scriptures. Sometimes loving ecstasy transcends regulative principles; such ecstasy, however, is completely on the spiritual platform and cannot be imitated. The regulative principles help ordinary devotees rise to the stage of perfect love of Godhead. Pure love for Krishna is the perfection of pure devotion, and pure devotional service is identical with spontaneous devotional service. Flawless execution of regulative principles is exhibited in the Vaikuëöha planets. By strictly executing these principles one can be elevated to the Vaikuëöha planets. But spontaneous pure loving service is found in Krishnaloka alone." [CC Adi 4.23]

Srila Gurudeva: When you taste some prasadam that is so sweet and nectarean, no one has to force you to eat. Similarly, when devotional life is made irresistibly attractive, no one has to force you to perform it. Generally we regulate ourselves by force or instruction-by order of guru and scripture-and become afraid if we do not practice strictly. But we pray the service will eventually appear so captivating that we will not have to perform it just out of duty. We pray to be able to be attracted to serving Krishna as Rupa Goswami says, 'as naturally as a young boy is attracted to a young girl.' Prabhupada explains that nobody has to be taught how to become attracted to the opposite sex. Spontaneous attraction for Krishna is lying dormant within the heart, it simply has to be re-awakened again, by the association of spontaneous devotees.

Here in New Vraja Dhama you worship the Deities Radha-Shyamasundar; now according to your inner mood you either worship this Deity as Laksmi-Narayana or as Radha-Shyamasundar. It depends on your level of taste and attraction. In both cases there is regularity, there is cleanliness-but the degree of love is not the same, and the nature of the love is not the same. The nature of the love that transforms your vision from seeing Laksmi-Narayana to Radha Shyamasundar is what we're speaking about here. You are very fortunate because it is quite difficult to see Laksmi-Narayana here; it is difficult to see anything but Radha-Shyamasundar. The powerful devotion of Radha-Shyamasundar's devotee has put us all in debt and makes us all Their Lordship's devotees.

TRANSLATION
"'Devotional service rendered to Me by the living beings revives their eternal life. O My dear damsels of Vraja, your affection for Me is your good fortune, for it is the only means by which you have obtained My favor.' (CC Adi 4.23)

Srila Gurudeva: This is a very wonderful verse spoken by Krishna to the gopis. Krishna had left Vrndavana and gone to Dwaraka. He got Himself entangled with so many wives, soldiers, and headaches of management. He decided that He wanted to take advantage of the solar eclipse; on the pretext of going to Kurukshetra to have a ride on the chariot with His brother and sister, He met the residents of Vrndavana. The Goswami have very much relished this mood of Krishna at Kurukshetra because it is the highest manifestation of the experience of meeting between lovers feeling intense separation. We cannot imagine what it feels' like to be separated from someone we love, because, our love is still very tiny.

But when we hear about the love the gopis feel, and especially among them, the love that Srimati Radharani feels for Krishna, it melts our stone-like hearts. Srimati Radharani could not stand to live when Krishna left Vrndavana, and the only reason that She held on to Her life was because She knew that if She were to give up Her life then Krishna would give up His. Still She lived like a very lovesick bird that could not eat, could not sleep, and could barely even sing Her remembrances of Krishna. After so much longing and heartbreak She finally got the opportunity to get back Her Krishna in Kurukshetra. But even at that meeting it was impossible for her to feel satisfied. She said, 'You are the same Krishna, I am the same Radha, and these are the same moonlit nights. But, I cannot experience what We had together in this atmosphere at Kurukshetra, with its chariots, dust, soldiers-and Your queens. I want to take You back with Me to Your Vrndavana, and there We can be together as We are meant to be.'

So Krishna had no way to really deal with the gopis in this condition. Because the truth is, the gopis always defeat Krishna. Whatever love Krishna has (and He has a lot of love, because as the Supreme Lord, He is the lover of all living beings), still His love cannot compare to the extent of the love of the gopis-and that's why He comes as Lord Caitanya. The inner mood of Krishna is that He is astonished in seeing the love of the best gopi, Srimati Radhika. So in the heart of Krishna He is seeing Srimati Radhika's love for Him and He is simply stunned. He is in awe of this love; He is completely captivated by this love. So when we chant, "Jaya Radhe, Jaya Radhe," we should understand that it is the mantra that gives the greatest pleasure to Krishna, because He is completely captivated by Srimati's love.

So, there are such loving sentiments of the Vraja bhaktas, as mentioned here:

mata more putra-bhave karena bandhana
atihina-jnane kare lalana palana

TRANSLATION
"Mother sometimes binds Me as her son. She nourishes and protects Me, thinking Me utterly helpless. (CC Adi 4.24)

Srila Gurudeva: And of course Nanda does the same in his own male way. Again, the feelings of separation that were observed by Uddhava (when he returned to Vrndavana, after Krishna left, bringing Shyam's message to the Vrajabhasis) when he found Nanda and Yasoda in their home looking like persons who had gone crazy. Yasoda's hair was completely loose, her sari was all disheveled, and her tilak was no longer on her head. Nanda Maharaja was equally disheveled in his appearance. The house was unclean and the two were just sitting there stunned, with tears running down their faces. These were the two persons who were so perfect in keeping their home neat and clean for Krishna and Balarama, who always appeared like the most beautifully decorated demigods--and now they appeared to be like mad persons. When Uddhava came into the house, at first he could not speak, seeing their condition.

We can't understand the degree of Yasoda's love for Krishna. If all the motherly affection of all the mothers in creation could be stored in one person, it would not begin to equal a little bit of the love that Yasoda nourishes Krishna with. The milk that flows from Yasoda's breasts is this pure love, which she feeds Krishna. So Krishna's body is fed with breast milk, which is the love of mother Yasoda, and He is cleansed by tears which fall from the eyes of His father, Nanda Maharaja. This is paternal and maternal affection, and Vraja is full of such love. The srngara rasa of Radha and Krishna, conjugal, emanates from this seat of Nanda Maharaja's house-because it is here from which Krishna and Balarama leave in the morning. This is Their home, Nanda Bhavan, and it is from here that They set off to perform Their pastimes. They go with Their friends and that is described:

sakha suddha-sakhye kare, skandhe arohaëa
tumi kon baòa loka,--tumi ami sama

TRANSLATION
"My friends climb on My shoulders in pure friendship, saying, 'What kind of big man are You? You and I are equal.' (CC, Adi 4.25)

Srila Gurudeva: Krishna is rasika-sekhar, He is the connoisseur of all of the rasas. This mood of friendship simply brings to light Krishna's heart. When Krishna left Vrndavana, it heightened the love of His friends like Sridhama and Sudama. Sridhama sakha waited in one place for Krishna to return, and he waited, and he waited… and he kept waiting. He never stopped waiting. Sridhama is Srimati Radharani's brother, so if we can hear about the glories of Radha's love we have to understand that the quality of her brother's love is unparalleled.

Just imagine what it is like for Krishna-how His heart is being pulled by Vrndavan's lovers; pulled by parental affection in one direction, pulled in another direction by friendship of his sakhas [friends], and captured in another direction by the gopis! What is Krishna's heart like? So much love; how could anyone's heart contain so many loving sentiments? This is God. If God can be called 'God,' then He is God because He can contain so many loving feelings reposed upon Him. Therefore, it is described that Krishna's body is sat-cit-ananda-and that ananda portion is personified by the hladini-sakti of Radhika-because, with all of these types of love, without the additional ingredient of Srimati Radharani's love, Krishna cannot be happy.

Radharani's love in Vrndavana is like sugar in sweet rice; you can have sweet rice, but if there's no sugar, it has no relish. So even though everything may be there complete in Vraja-without the ingredient of Radharani, it has no taste. Therefore we elevate Radharani-in our worship-to the highest position of all. In our tradition Krishna is at the feet of Radharani. Therefore Prabhupada says in Vrndavana everyone chants, "Jaya Radhe! Jaya Radhe!" Krishna adds here:

priyä yadi mäna kari' karaye bhartsana
veda-stuti haite hare sei mora mana

TRANSLATION
"If My beloved consort reproaches Me in a sulky mood, that steals My mind from the reverent hymns of t he Vedas." (CC Adi 4:26)

Srila Gurudeva: The moods of Srimati Radhika are the life of Her associates. Her gopi friends each have different natures: some of them are very fiery; some are very sweet; some are very expert in talking and making riddles; some are expert at concocting different drinks; some are expert at making sweets-and they have learned all these arts from Her. She is the most expert in every one of these. She is the best dancer; She is the best singer; She is the best cook; She is the most cunning and clever of all; and therefore She captures Krishna. In fact, She and Her associates never leave Krishna's mind peaceful. Krishna may be in the arms of His mother; Krishna may be in the arms of the queens of Dwaraka; and [yet] always within His mind is Radhika. Even when Krishna was young, Radharani was in His mind; even before they ever met Radharani was in His mind. This is the mood of Radha-Shyamasundar.

TRANSLATION
"Taking these pure devotees with Me, I shall descend and sport in various wonderful ways, unknown even in Vaikuëöha. I shall broadcast such pastimes by which even I am amazed." (CC Adi 4:27-28)
mo-viñaye gopé-gaëera upapati-bhäve
yoga-mäyä karibeka äpana-prabhäve

TRANSLATION
"The influence of yogamäyä will inspire the gopés with the sentiment that I am their paramour." (CC Adi 4:29)

PURPORT: Yogamäyä is the name of the internal potency that makes the Lord forget Himself and become an object of love for His pure devotee, in different transcendental mellows. The yogamäyä potency creates a spiritual sentiment in the minds of the damsels of Vraja by which they think of Lord Krishna as their paramour. This sentiment is never to be compared to mundane illicit sexual love. It has nothing to do with sexual psychology, although the pure love of such devotees seems to be sexual. One should know for certain that nothing can exist in this cosmic manifestation that has no real counterpart in the spiritual field. All material manifestations are emanations of the Transcendence. The erotic principles of amorous love reflected in mixed material values are perverted reflections of the reality of spirit, but one cannot understand the reality without sufficient education in the spiritual science.

Srila Gurudeva: So the affairs of Radha and Krishna appear to be like those of a girl and a boy, but we should understand how Their mutual attraction is completely free from what we understand by sex. It takes the shape of sex but does not have the mood of sex. The mood of sex is a selfish mood-it is a mood of enjoyment-but the mood of love is a mood of service. So the apparently sexual activities are actually expressions of pure love. In this material world they are reflected; the whole world is attracted by material sex life, but it is considered a perverted reflection of the affairs of the spiritual world because it does not [constitute] pure love.

When the gopis beautify their bodies and decorate their faces, put on their saris and jewelry-all this is with one meditation. The Goswamis describe how Srimati Radhika is decorated; from the time She is bathed and dressed, each and every item is meant to capture Shyam. And why? Because She wants to give Him pleasure, She wants to make Him happy. She does that by Her wonderful beauty and Krishna reciprocates. Shyamasundar's beauty gives Her satisfaction, and They go back and forth, competing. Who can make the other happiest? And, of course, Radharani always wins-because She can always give Krishna the greatest pleasure. Because of that, Her happiness is higher still than His. It is the happiness of service.

We have to understand this! The essence of spontaneous love is the pure service mood; and Vraja bhakti is the highest manifestation of selfless service. All our activities of this world can be connected with this mood of love, that we want to learn, Vraja bhakti; and all of the service we do here can nourish our Vraja bhakti. Therefore, it is the mercy of the spiritual master that he pushes the disciple to such a level of service; and that service becomes the greatest qualification for doing Vraja bhakti. The only thing required is to add the ingredients of some of these particular five activities of devotional service.

This place is very special, because, it is filled with these five activities. We can go on throughout the year: we can go on sankirtan, we can build temples, we can raise the children, maintain our families-we can do anything at all, in the mood of service. Then if we add this element of spontaneity-attachment to Radhe Shyam-all of this service becomes transformed into Vraja bhakti. People sometimes ask, 'How can I see my work, my job, or whatever I'm doing as connected with Krishna, the final goal of Krishna consciousness?' Well, it can be absolutely connected, because if you do it properly it is meant to squeeze out all the impure desires for selfishness, leaving you as a selfless servant of the Lord.

Prabhupada showed this, [yet] he concealed his Vraja bhakti in many ways, and that has confused some members of our movement very much, because, it appears Prabhupada spoke very little about Vraja bhakti. But we need to acknowledge the selfless nature of his service, at least the part he made manifest. He demonstrated there is no selfish desire within his heart, other than to fulfill the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He drove himself ceaselessly to serve his guru's mission; and we see elements of Vraja bhakti in his saying, "Vrndavan is my home", his always worshipping Radha-Krishna, establishing Radha-Krishna Deities in every temple in the world. He worshipped little Radha-Krishna Deities from the time he was a child; he traveled with Radha-Krishna Deities when he first came to the West; and his final desire was to go to Govardhan. In so many ways Prabhupada gave hints, but he couldn't have been clearer than he was in the purport of text sixteen:

PURPORT: (in part) Lord Çré Krishna wants to make known to all the conditioned souls that He is more attracted by räga-bhakti than vaidhi-bhakti, or devotional service under scheduled regulations. It is said in the Vedas (Taittiréya Up. 2.7), raso vai saù: the Absolute Truth is the reservoir for all kinds of reciprocal exchanges of loving sentiments. He is also causelessly merciful, and He wants to bestow upon us this privilege of räga-bhakti. Thus He appeared by His own internal energy. He was not forced to appear by any extraneous force. (CC Ädi 4.16)

Srila Gurudeva: Raganuga bhakti: 'anuga' means 'to follow' and 'raga' is a type of spontaneous greed that the ragatmika devotees [possess] in their souls, in their hearts. Rupa Goswami describes, a raganuga bhakta is a person who follows the ragatmika bhaktas. He says, externally you perform all the injunctions of vaidhi bhakti, the rules and regulations-so you push forward the sankirtan Movement with full devotion-while, internally you follow the raga [spontaneous] bhakti marg [path]. This is Rupa Goswami's injunction; and this is what Prabhupada did. It's not something he broadcast, that internal mood. But those who were close to him could understand always 'this person is an intimate associate of Radha and Krishna who is executing the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.'

On the outside, Lord Caitanya performed sankirtan yajna; inside, Krishna, in the mood of Radhika, relishes Her inner feelings. The two are very intimately connected. Only by performance of the sankirtan yajna can you get this internal taste. But we should know what that internal taste is-it is not to elevate to Vaikuntha, but it is to go to Vraja. The mood Krishna and the gopis have, under the care of Yogamaya, is mentioned here:

TRANSLATION
"Neither the gopés nor I shall notice this, for our minds will always be entranced by one another's beauty and qualities." (CC Adi 4:30)

PURPORT: (in part) The acts of yogamäyä make it possible for the Lord and the gopés, in loving ecstasy, to sometimes meet and sometimes separate. These transcendental loving affairs of the Lord are unimaginable to empiricists involved in the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth. Therefore the Lord Himself appears before the mundaners to bestow upon them the highest form of spiritual realization, and also, personally relish its essence. The Lord is so merciful, that He Himself descends to take the fallen souls back home to the kingdom of Godhead; where the erotic principles of Godhead are eternally relished in their real form, distinct from the perverted sexual love so much adored and indulged in by the fallen souls in their diseased condition. The reason the Lord displays the räsa-lélä is essentially to induce all the fallen souls to give up their diseased morality and religiosity, and to attract them to the kingdom of God to enjoy the reality. A person who actually understands what the räsa-lélä is will certainly hate to indulge in mundane sex life. For the realized soul, hearing the Lord's räsa-lélä through the proper channel will result in complete abstinence from material sexual pleasure. (CC Ädi 4.30)

TRANSLATION
"Pure attachment will unite us even at the expense of moral and religious duties [dharma]. Destiny will sometimes bring us together and sometimes separate us." (CC Adi 4:31)

PURPORT: The gopés came out to meet Krishna in the dead of night when they heard the sound of His flute. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé has accordingly composed a nice verse that describes the beautiful boy called Govinda standing by the bank of the Yamunä with His flute to His lips in the shining moonlight. Those who want to enjoy life in the materialistic way of society, friendship and love should not go to the Yamunä to see the form of Govinda. The sound of Lord Krishna's flute is so sweet that it has made the gopés forget all about their relationships with their kinsmen and flee to Krishna in the dead of night.

Srila Gurudeva: Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has described the different gopi groups. He says that some of them were eternal associates-Lalita, Vishaka, the asta-sakhis and others who came, Rupa Manjari, Rati Manjari, and so many others who came from Goloka Vrndavan when Radha and Krishna descended. Others were the daughters of demigods, some were sages from the forest in previous lives, and there were perfected sadhakas. So many different types of personalities became gopis. When Krishna danced in rasa-lila, not all of them could at once go to be with Him. For those who are His eternal associates or who had unalloyed love for Him, Yogamaya manifested duplicates of these gopis to be with their husbands, and so they were able to be with Radha and Krishna. For those who still had some slight [material] attachment, it is described that they stayed home with their husbands and they gave birth to children. But later on when they heard the beautiful description of rasa-lila from the eternally liberated gopis, they lost all attraction to their husbands, and to their children. The milk dried up in their breasts and they simply became mad after Krishna.

So this is a very strange religion; it is meant to bring us to become mad for Krishna. Madness is something looked down upon from an ordinary worldly viewpoint. But unless one becomes a mad follower of the gopis, one cannot get this love that Caitanya Mahaprabhu has come to bring. Sooner or later you have to make your decision. Sooner or later you have to let go and just make up your mind, 'I have only one business in life. I may [mechanically] do my other activities, but internally my mood will be to simply chase the lotus feet of Radha, Krishna and the gopis. I will learn their names; I will learn their activities; I will learn to know what Krishna likes to eat; I will learn the songs that He likes to hear sung; and I will qualify myself to be His eternal maidservant.

This is what Narottama dasa Thakura has prayed for and what Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura prays for in his songs. It is mentioned here:

TRANSLATION
"I shall taste the essence of all these rasas, and in this way I shall favor all the devotees." (CC Adi 4:32)

vrajera nirmala räga çuni' bhakta-gaëa
räga-märge bhaje yena chäòi' dharma-karma

TRANSLATION
"Then, by hearing about the pure love of the residents of Vraja, devotees will worship Me on the path of spontaneous love, abandoning all rituals of religiosity and fruitive activity." (CC Adi 4:33)

PURPORT: Many realized souls, such as Raghunätha däsa Gosvämé and King Kulaçekhara, have recommended with great emphasis that one develop this spontaneous love of Godhead, even at the risk of transgressing all the traditional codes of morality and religiosity. Çré Raghunätha däsa Gosvämé, one of the six Gosvämés of Våndävana, has written in his prayers called the Manaù-çikñä that one should simply worship Rädhä and Krishna with all attention. Na dharmaà nädharmaà çruti-gaëa-niruktaà kila kuru: one should not be much interested in performing Vedic rituals or simply following rules and regulations.

Srila Gurudeva: Here we can see Raghunatha dasa Goswami sitting upon the banks of Radha kunda. Before that, he was residing in Puri with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; before that he, was the son of the wealthiest of merchants. He gave up rich aristocracy, a wife more beautiful than the goddess of fortune and he became a mendicant beggar. Such a beggar that he even gave up begging and simply went and searched for broken bits of undigested rice within the leftovers and stools of the cows at the temple of Jagannath's dharma-shala. In utter renunciation, he lived on the bank of Radha kunda. He did not even build himself a hut until Sanatana Goswami made a hut for him, seeing that there were wild animals which could prove dangerous to Raghunatha dasa's bhajan. While he lived on the bank of Radha kunda Raghunatha ate only a tiny bit of buttermilk (a few handfuls) every two days, just to keep body and soul together. He offered thousands of obeisances to the Vaisnavas daily; he chanted lakhs of rounds, daily; he composed poems within his heart describing Radha and Krishna-and this is the person we are supposed to follow. rupa raghunata pade… 'I want to be a follower of Sri Rupa and Sri Raghunath.'

Rupa and Raghunath are Rupa and Rati Manjaris, they are the closest to Srimati Radhika. They can go where even Lalita and Vishaka cannot go. They are simply the selfless extensions of the service to Radha and Krishna. Whatever the most intimate services needed to be done, Rupa and Raghunatha are the ones who do it. They are our gurus, they are our leaders and they are the persons that we aspire to follow in the footsteps of. This is the legacy that is bequeathed to us by Srila Prabhupada. We should understand, that all of our activities are meant to lead to this, to the lotus feet of Rupa and Raghunath. To enter into their mood, one has to enter into this spontaneous mood of loving devotion. Prabhupada will speak about this further here:

TRANSLATION
"Krishna manifests His eternal humanlike form and performs His pastimes to show mercy to the devotees. Having heard such pastimes, one should engage in service to Him." (CC Adi 4:34)

TRANSLATION
"Here the use of the verb "bhavet," which is in the imperative mood, tells us that this certainly must be done. Noncompliance would be abandonment of duty." (CC Adi 4:35)

Srila Gurudeva: Normally, we hear about duty-temple leaders' say "Prabhu, you must do this!" Now we hear about another duty. Again, we must do this. 'Bhavet' means imperative: it must be done. If you don't do it, you are in violation of your duty as a devotee and a member of ISKCON. In ISKCON, we each have different duties, but here, this duty is for everybody. Now Prabhupada explains:

PURPORT: This imperative is applicable to pure devotees. Neophytes will be able to understand these affairs only after being elevated by regulated devotional service under the expert guidance of the spiritual master. Then they too will be competent to hear of the love affairs of Rädhä and Krishna. As long as one is in material, conditioned life, strict discipline is required in the matter of moral and immoral activities. The absolute world is transcendental and free from such distinctions because there inebriety is not possible. But in this material world a sexual appetite necessitates distinction between moral and immoral conduct. There are no sexual activities in the spiritual world. The transactions between lover and beloved in the spiritual world are pure transcendental love and unadulterated bliss. One who has not been attracted by the transcendental beauty of rasa will certainly be dragged down into material attraction, thus to act in material contamination and progress to the darkest region of hellish life. But by understanding the conjugal love of Rädhä and Krishna one is freed from the grip of attraction to material so-called love between man and woman. Similarly, one who understands the pure parental love of Nanda and Yaçodä for Krishna will be saved from being dragged into material parental affection. If one accepts Krishna as the supreme friend, the attraction of material friendship will be finished for him, and he will not be dismayed by so-called friendship with mundane wranglers. If he is attracted by servitorship to Krishna, he will no longer have to serve the material body in the degraded status of material existence, with the false hope of becoming master in the future. Similarly, one who sees the greatness of Krishna in neutrality will certainly never again seek the so-called relief of impersonalist or voidist philosophy. If one is not attracted by the transcendental nature of Krishna, one is sure to be attracted to material enjoyment, thus to become implicated in the clinging network of virtuous and sinful activities and to continue material existence by transmigrating from one material body to another. Only in Krishna consciousness can one achieve the highest perfection of life.

Srila Gurudeva: So, we owe a world of debt to Lord Krishna for having Appeared on this day, and again for coming as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to tell us about His inner mood. I am very much personally indebted to my god brother His Holiness Sivarama Swami Maharaja, because I had no desire, and certainly no qualification to speak today-but he forced me to do so. Whatever I said, I was simply a puppet and he was pulling the strings. That's why he sat here [right next to Srila Gurudeva]. When a puppet talks, you think the puppet [itself] is talking, but behind him is a person moving the puppets. So I hope that I did not mouth the words wrong; but I think that whatever he said was very nicely said today. I only repeated his words, and the words of Sri Caitanya Caritamrta; so, if there's any fault, it is his! We're all very much indebted that he brought us into this beautiful world of his heart-New Vraja Dhama-and we pray that we can eternally reside here."

Thus ends the Sri Krishna Janmastami lecture
by His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami at New Vraja Dhama, Hungary.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Thank you to all the devotees who have contributed time, resources, financial support and prayers towards Srila Gurudeva's writing marathon.

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Nakula dasa
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Sarvabhauma dasa and Nakula dasa

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