Śrī Upadeśāmṛta, Śloka 8
New Braja, 25 May 1997
I want to be the foot-dust of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī forever, janmani janmani means birth after birth. If I have to take birth, no harm, but I want only to be the foot-dust of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. This is the highest object, the highest object and we can attain that highest object.
What is that object?
tavaivāsmi tavaivāsmi na jivāmi tvayā vinā
iti vijñāya rādhe tvaṁ naya māṁ caraṇāntike
(Śrī Vilāpa Kusumāñjali 96, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī)
[I am Yours! I am Yours! I cannot live without You! O Rādhe, please understand this and bring me to the service of Your lotus feet.]
This is the highest, to serve Śrīmatī Rādhikā. It can be attained only by being the dust of the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.
ādadānas tṛṇaṁ dantair
idaṁ yāce punaḥ punaḥ
śrīmad-rūpa-padāmbhojadhūliḥ
syāṁ janma-janmani
(Śrī Dāna-Keli-Cintāmaṇi 175, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī)
Taking a dry grass between my teeth, I am folding my hands and deeply praying from the core of my heart. Unconditionally, thoroughly, completely, I am offering myself and devoting myself fully at the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. In all future births I want to serve Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda, so I want to be the dust of his lotus feet.
We will explain his eighth śloka in The Nectar of Instruction.
What has Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī said in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.294)
kṛṣṇaṁ smaran janañ cāsya
preṣṭhaṁ nija-samīhitam
tat-tat-kathā-rataś cāsau
kuryād vāsaṁ vraje sadā
He has said in the main śloka, ‘tiṣṭhan vraje,’ to always be in Vṛndāvana. But that is not enough. You must also be under the guidance of Vaiṣṇavas. This means that you will always be hearing their hari-kathā, obeying their instructions, and staying in Vṛndāvana. But then something more is needed.
What is that?
Tannāma-rūpa-caritādi—always chanting his name, and doing what else?
Hearing about and meditating on all the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa related to that name.
What name?
Like Dāmodara. When you are calling Dāmodara’s name, then you should remember the pastimes of Dāmodara. There are two Dāmodaras—Yaśodā-Dāmodara and Rādhā-Dāmodara. They are not the same. You should remember how Śrīmatī Yaśodā was binding unlimited Kṛṣṇa, how he was weeping, and also how the gopīs tied Kṛṣṇa with Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s veil so that he could not go here and there and leave the rāsa. That is why he became Rādhā-Dāmodara.
When you are chanting Kṛṣṇa’s name, what should you remember?
You should always remember the pastimes related to Kṛṣṇa— how he attracted peacocks, kokilas (cuckoo birds), deer, all the creepers, trees, rivers, mountains, gopas, gopīs, cows, and charmed them with his sweet voice and flute. So when chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, we should remember all these things.
But instead, what is in our minds?
We are thinking:
“Where am I going in this world?
How can I control this situation?”
No, no, we should never chant with this mentality. Always remember the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa when you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and follow this process. Gradually we must train the mind to always remember Kṛṣṇa. The high-class devotees can do this.
Remember and chant Kṛṣṇa’s name in the right process. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. The eyes are closed, and the mind is concentrated. Automatically a pastime comes. Kṛṣṇa is in Keśī-ghāṭa in Vṛndāvana with lākhas and lākhas of cows and cowherd boys, playing on his flute and doing śṛṅgāra with his sakhās (decorating each other), and playing so many different games. Sometimes the sakhās play like monkeys, putting on tails like hanumān. When they catch hold of the tail of one big hanumān, he jumps from this tree to the next one. Holding onto that tail very tightly, they also go jumping from one tree to the next, here to there. All are clapping and laughing. In so many ways they are joking and playing and passing the time. Sometimes they are making jokes and imitating frogs. They squat down and jump, and again jump and all are jumping like this and sounding like frogs. Sometimes Kṛṣṇa suddenly goes far away and all run after him.
Who will catch Kṛṣṇa first?
So they are doing all these pastimes.
One time Madhumaṅgala came to Kṛṣṇa and said, “You are very svārthī, selfish, very selfish You are. All the gopīs come with so many preparations. They give all these things and so much honour to You, and give nothing to us. Everything is always only for You. I know why. Because You have a pītāmbara, You have a sweet vaṁśī, and a peacock feather on Your head. But anyone can take these things and appear more beautiful and more honourable to all others. It is only because of these three things that You look so beautiful and attract everyone. You can take my cloth and give me Yours. Give me Your vaṁśī and You take my śṛṅgāra. You should also give me Your peacock feather. Then we will see that all gopīs will love me more, and give me rasagula, pera, burfi and everything. They will give me so many things, makkhana and miśrī also. No one will ask for You and everyone will come to me.” Kṛṣṇa began to smile and said, “We should test this. Let us change our clothes!”
A devotee is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and all these moods are coming in his mind. He sees them exchanging their clothes. Kṛṣṇa gave his flute and peacock feather to Madhumaṅgala, and he himself took Madhumaṅgala’s clothes. At that time a very big horse, the Keśī demon, came. He was whinnying so loudly that the whole of vraja was upset.
Everyone was afraid and wondering whether a storm had come or what?
All the dust of vraja went up in the sky. Everything was covered by deep darkness, like andhakāra, and everyone was so afraid. They could not imagine what was happening and Kṛṣṇa was now nowhere to be found. Only Madhumaṅgala was there. Keśī was searching for Kṛṣṇa, who had gone some distance away. Kaṁsa had told him, “You should go and at once kill Kṛṣṇa.”
Keśī said:
“I don’t know what Kṛṣṇa looks like. How can I recognize him?”
“Oh, very easily you will know him. If someone is wearing a pītāmbara-vastra around his neck and a pītāmbara-dhoti below, a flute on his lips, a peacock feather on his head, and having a somewhat blackish complexion, you should know that he is Kṛṣṇa.”
Madhumaṅgala was also somewhat blackish. He had exchanged his dress with Kṛṣṇa and was looking just like him, with the flute, peacock feather and pītāmbara. From very far off Keśī spotted him and thought, “Oh, there is Kṛṣṇa.” But Madhumaṅgala was not that Kṛṣṇa. Keśī saw him and began to whinny and jump very high. He jumped from far away and reached that brāhmaṇa boy, wanting to kill him. Just the air moving from Keśī’s tail caused Madhumaṅgala to fall flat on the earth! He was rolling down on the ground and calling out, “Are bābā!”
Do you know the expression ‘are bābā’?
It means, “O father, father, father.” Like this. “O mother, save me! O God, save me!” Madhumaṅgala threw his vaṁśī far away, he dropped the peacock feather here and the pītāmbara there, and he fell down and was rolling about. It was Madhumaṅgala’s greatest fortune that Keśī’s legs could not reach him.
Otherwise what would be his destination?
He started to fly away from there, but luckily Kṛṣṇa was very nearby. He caught hold of that brāhmaṇa boy and said:
“You should keep My clothes for one or two days more.”
“No, no, I don’t want. Take all Your things.”
He gave everything back to Kṛṣṇa:
“And give me my belongings.”
Kṛṣṇa said:
“No, no. I will not give them to you.”
“Oh, you must give them to me. Otherwise I will be killed. I was practically finished, but luckily just in the nick of time I was saved. God has saved me. So I will take my things. I don’t want any lāḍḍus or anything else!”
He is remembering and smiling.
Who?
That devotee chanting:
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare.
Why is he laughing?
No one knows why he is laughing, but he had gotten some taste in seeing these pastimes.
I have told only one pastime but Kṛṣṇa has performed lākhas and lākhas of various kinds of pastimes. I am giving another very little sample.
Once Kṛṣṇa was in Govardhana. He had gone there with his cowherd friends for cow grazing. Lākhas and lākhas of friends were there with him. The cows were peacefully taking grass, and Kṛṣṇa was playing with his friends. He was at Dāna Ghātī.
Do you know Dāna Ghātī in Govardhana?
It is a narrow passage between two mountains. So he was playing there, and suddenly he heard a very sweet voice. He asked:
“Who is coming?
Oh, the gopīs are coming. They are going somewhere.” Kṛṣṇa told his friends:
“Today, we will have to collect a tax from them. Otherwise, we will not let them pass.”
The devotee is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and this whole pastime is coming automatically like a chain of pictures on the cinema reel. He sees that Śrīmatī Rādhikā was with her gopī friends, and she was coming very close to Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa asked:
“Who are You?”
She would not answer. Again he asked:
“Who are You?”
Śrīmatī Rādhikā spoke very gently, but Kṛṣṇa harshly repeated:
“Who are you?”
Like some men have a habit of speaking harshly. She said very gently:
“You don’t know who I am?”
“No, I don’t know who You are.”
“You don’t know?”
“Why are you not answering My question?
Instead You are asking Me a question.
You don’t know who I am?”
She was silent. Again Kṛṣṇa spoke:
“Daily I am seeing that My Vṛndāvana garden is being ruined. You are crushing so many plants. I didn’t know where all the flowers were going or who was stealing them, but now I have caught You red-handed, and I will punish You for trespassing. I am a very dharmika-puruṣa.”
Do you know dharmika-puruṣa?
“I am a religious person.
Do You know that I am the owner of this garden?”
Śrīmatī Rādhikā very sweetly and gently answered:
“Have You planted any of the plants here, ever?
and You have become the master?”
The sādhaka is hearing this exchange. The taste is very sweet and he becomes very absorbed in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa and in a chain all these images are coming.
Then Śrīmatī Rādhikā asked,
“Have You planted any plant?
Any very little plant?”
Kṛṣṇa was silent.
“Have You given water to any of these plants?”
“No,”
Kṛṣṇa answered in a low voice.
“But with lākhas and lākhas of cows You come and destroy all the plants Yourself. We provide the plants and water. My sakhī Vṛndā-devī is always planting and planting and serving Vṛndāvana. So it is named Vṛndāvana, not Kṛṣṇavana.
How can You be the master of this Vṛndāvana?
Your forefathers, Your father, Your father’s father, grand-father—were they the masters of this Vṛndāvana?
How can You claim this?
So You are ruining Vṛndāvana, not protecting and nursing it or doing anything productive.”
“Oh, don’t tell Me this,”
Kṛṣṇa answered.
“I am the owner of this place. I am a very sādhu-puruṣa, religious person.”
Śrīmatī Rādhikā said:
“What is Your name, please?”
Kṛṣṇa told:
“My name is Kṛṣṇa.”
“Oh, Kṛṣṇa is always a very irreligious person. I have heard that there was a boy named Kṛṣṇa. He killed a lady when he was only six days old, still an infant.
Oh, is this the sign of being a religious person—to kill someone’s wife, a lady?
I also know of a boy named Kṛṣṇa, who from his boyhood used to enter others’ houses and steal curd, milk and butter.
Are You that very same Kṛṣṇa?
Oh, he was so religious!
He always spoke the truth!
I’ve heard that he had eaten some earth, and Yaśodā Maiyā asked him:
‘Have You taken earth?’
‘No, mother, I have not taken.’
‘Then, why are Baladeva and all others complaining to me?’
Are You that same liar Kṛṣṇa?
I once heard of one boy who was not satisfied with his lies. He was such a religious person that when the girls of Vṛndāvana were taking bath and had put their clothes on the bank nearby, that boy Kṛṣṇa took all their cloth and climbed up on the branches of a high tree. Then he told the girls:
‘You should come naked and offer praṇāma to Me.’
Oh, are You this religious person, Kṛṣṇa?
Very religious, very religious! But still that religious person was not satisfied. Next he played on his flute and called all the gopīs and told them:
‘You should dance with Me and join My rāsa.’
Oh, are You that religious person?
And after that he left all the gopīs, his mother and father also, nanda-Yaśodā, and went to search for another father, mother, and 16,000 wives, and even then he was not satisfied. He wanted more and more new ladies.
Are you that very Kṛṣṇa, so religious?”
All the gopīs were clapping and Kṛṣṇa became embarrassed.
The sādhaka is still chanting and smiling a little:
“Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare.”
This sādhaka was Rūpa Gosvāmī. A lame devotee came by and saw that he was smiling. He thought:
“Oh, perhaps he has seen that I am lame, and that is why he is laughing.”
But actually, why was he laughing?
Because he had witnessed this līlā. He had been chanting for about three, four hours:
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare,
And was quite absorbed. Anyone can see these pastimes. Those who are in a higher stage of devotion will automatically witness these līlās.
When chanting they will never think; “I should go to the shoe shop because my shoes have become dirty. I need a new pair.” Or, “I will have to purchase a very beautiful golden chain for my wife and my elder daughter.” And then while chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa the neophyte devotee goes marketing and enters a very opulent gold shop. No, we should not do harināma like this. Instead we should be absorbed in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. All our senses and especially the mind must be absorbed in chanting. That is what Rūpa Gosvāmī is telling, and Swāmījī is repeating the same thing.
Go on, “a devotee should....”
Don’t take a large sum of money to deposit in the bank and from that money plan on maintaining yourself very easily for the rest of your life. Don’t come to Vṛndāvana and arrange to have so many luxurious facilities, attached bathrooms, fan, heater, so many costly things, table, watch, so many sitting arrangements, and on and on. Don’t take pride in accumulating luxurious goods from abroad, from Chicago, New York, from America, England, London. This is not the way to do bhajana in Vṛndāvana. Only take ḍora-kaupīna and, being niṣkiñcana, do bhajana. Otherwise, you cannot follow these instructions and advance. So this is the symptom and this is the process for being in Vṛndāvana.
Swāmījī is saying, “he should reside in the transcendental realm of Vṛndāvana” and then?
Devotee reads: And always engage in kṛṣṇaṁ smaran janaṁ cāsya preṣṭham
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Smaraṇam.
What is smaraṇam?
If you are chanting nāma but not remembering the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa in your heart, then how are you in Vṛndāvana, vraja?
You should have the mood of Vṛndāvana, actually feeling that, “I am in Vṛndāvana.” so engage in smaraṇam—it is so important.
Why?
Of all the senses, who is the king?
The mind. For example, we walk.
From what sense do we walk?
By the feet.
No, not the feet.
If your mind is not giving consent, you cannot walk. Rather, you will fall down. If you are taking something, it seems that you are taking with your hand. But actually it is not by the hand. It is by the mind. If the mind is not in accord, then you will not be able to take anything. If you are going anywhere, the mind must agree. There was one incident with our assistant headmaster. He was our history teacher and a very good philosopher. Once he was on his way to school, but he went about two miles past the school, thinking about something else. The boys saw him and caught up with him, asking;
“O master, where you are going?”
“I am going to school.”
“But you have gone two miles past the school.”
“Oh, I have gone past the school?
How is that possible?”
So, we are walking and all the senses are following the mind. If the mind is not there, then we will miss everything. If we are doing anything with the mouth, the hands, or any of the other senses, it is actually the action of the mind, that bhāva, that is dominant. You may be chanting, but if your mind is not there, then that chanting goes almost in vain. And if the mind is there, then automatically the mood is there. If someone is chanting but he is not having the mood of a Vrajavāsī, then there is no relation with Kṛṣṇa, because this relation comes from the proper mood.
In what mood are you chanting this name?
And what are you thinking?
Gopī-jana-vallabha. In this way, Kṛṣṇa is my beloved, Kṛṣṇa is my child, son, or Kṛṣṇa is my friend. There should be some relationship that your Guru has given you and if you are not realising that, you have not really been initiated by your Gurudeva. He has cheated you because you were not qualified.
Or else the guru is also not qualified; he does not know anything himself, so how can he help his śiṣya?
But to any qualified person the guru must give this relation; this is the meaning of dīkṣā and the guru will help you give up all bodily desires. This is initiation. So the activities of the mind are more powerful and more significant than the activities of our senses.
Do you follow this?
Take the example of a man who sees a naked girl. He does not directly approach her, but he becomes so much attracted. His mind will become absorbed in thoughts of her and he will see her everywhere. But in reality he is not actually connected with her. That girl will be gone, but still he will think of her. This happened in the case of Ajāmila. He saw a low-class prostitute drinking wine and embracing a man, and he could not control his mind.
And after that you know what happened?
He became involved with a prostitute. He gave up his father, mother, children; chaste wife, everything and he became that rascal Ajāmila. But due to his previous saṁskara he named his son Nārāyaṇa, and that name saved him. So you should understand how powerful the mind is and train it, as Swāmījī has recommended. We will have to train our mind because it is the root of all evils and all good activities as well. An uncontrolled mind is our enemy, but when it is controlled it is our friend. So we should try to discipline it, to influence it.
Devotee: I have a question. What if you are chanting and the mind is thinking of service to Gurudeva on the bodily platform?
for example, “I have to cook for Gurudeva. I have to go to the store for Gurudeva.”
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: This is the service of Kṛṣṇa.
Devotee: While you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa?
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Yes, no harm. In the beginning when chanting, you may think of your service, no harm. But when you advance, you will be seeing a chain of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes automatically coming. You may not want them to come, but you cannot stop them. For instance the gopīs are thinking:
“I should forget Kṛṣṇa. We want to forget Kṛṣṇa, this black person, but we cannot.”
In a chain of images Kṛṣṇa is always coming, always coming.
“We don’t want to go to Yamunā, but our feet are not obeying us.
What to do?
They are automatically going there. Our ears are always in curiosity to hear the very sweet sound of his vaṁśī. Then I want to give a slap to these ears, they are not obeying. ‘Don’t hear, don’t go to Kṛṣṇa.’
But why are they not obeying us?
We want to forget Kṛṣṇa because he has forgotten us.
Why is he not thinking of us?
But we cannot forget him.”
This is the condition of high devotees. Sometimes they want to forget Kṛṣṇa, but they cannot. A chain of pastimes, of beauty and all sweet things of Kṛṣṇa, are automatically coming. Gradually this will happen. So we will have to train our mind.
Here Swāmījī is saying that smaraṇa is better.
But how it will come?
Only by kīrtana-prabhāve smaraṇa haibe—if your chanting is very good, automatically all these smaraṇa, remembrances, will come without interruption. Smaraṇa will come like the current of a river, always flowing. Then all the senses will be controlled automatically, very easily. I am telling that it is easy, but actually it is not so easy. You will have to give up all worldly desires. First do it, whether you are in family or in renounced order. No harm in being in family life. The gopīs are all in family life, Śrīvāsa paṇḍita and all the prominent associates of Mahāprabhu, Mādhavī devī, Sikhī Mahitī, all were like this. No harm. So don’t be worried or hopeless for this.
Then. “and always engage in kṛṣṇa-smaraṇa.”
What?
Devotee reads: By following in the footsteps of such associates and by entering under their eternal guidance, one can acquire an intense desire to serve the supreme personality of Godhead.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: How can we get their guidance?
“O Rūpa Gosvāmī, O Sanātana Gosvāmī, be kind to me. I am not qualified to have a particle of your lotus foot dust. I know that you are causelessly merciful. I have not done anything to deserve it, but I am always awaiting your mercy and nothing else.”
Kṛṣṇa will say: “You should do something. Otherwise, how I can give you My mercy?”
We will reply:
“O Kṛṣṇa, don’t cheat me. What has Kālīya done, what has Aghāsura done, what have Jagāi and Mādhāi done for You?
But yet You have given mercy to them. I am more wretched than them, so I am qualified for Your mercy. You cannot find another person more wicked than me. I am the most wretched in the whole world. I am very fallen, so I am most qualified to have Your mercy. You are causelessly merciful.
Where will You use this?
Where?
You will not find another like me, so I am very qualified for Your mercy. Besides, I know some tricks. If You are not merciful to me, then I will defame You. I will broadcast everywhere that Kṛṣṇa is not merciful. He has forgotten to bestow his mercy. And then all will know that You are so niṣṭhura, cruel-hearted, merciless.
Then what will You do?
So You must give mercy to me. You are causelessly merciful.”
We must pray like this, weeping for the mercy.
“O Kṛṣṇa, O devotees, I am waiting only for your mercy.”
This is their guidance. If you are offering yourself and fully surrendering, Kṛṣṇa is bound to give mercy, and if you are not praying like this, then there is no hope. You will have to do something.
If you take a step toward him, He will come lākhas of steps to you, and if you are going back one step, He will go lākhas of miles far away from you. so we must pray very deeply.
Then?
Devotee reads: Under their eternal guidance, one can acquire an intense desire to serve the supreme personality of Godhead. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has commented as follows upon this verse:
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: This point is very essential and important. You should try to underline Swāmījī’s explanation in your hearts. I am not telling anything new. I know nothing. I am simply trying to follow what Swāmījī has written here, and I am telling you my understanding of his words. No new thing, only I am repeating the words that Swāmījī has written here. Some say that Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja is giving lectures very far away from Swāmījī’s meanings and instructions. But I assert very strongly that I have no separate interest. I am only following Swāmījī’s words. Here also you will hear that I am preaching the same thing.
What is Swāmījī saying?
“In the transcendental realm of....”
Devotee reads: In the transcendental realm of vraja (vraja-dhāma) one should serve the supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, with a feeling similar to that of his associates....
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Which associates?
Four kinds of associates, and of all the associates, the gopīs are the best, having the top mood.
“And one should....”
Devotee reads: And one should place himself under the direct guidance of a particular associate of Kṛṣṇa and should follow in his footsteps. This method is applicable both in thestage of sādhana (spiritual practices executed while in the stage of bondage) and in the stage of sādhya (God realisation), when one is a siddha-puruṣa, or a spiritually perfect soul.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: This instruction is given for those in the stage of sādhana, bondage, when one is full of anarthas—no harm.
What is the meaning of bondage, when one is full of anarthas?
It may be that even if one has so many worldly desires, no harm if there is śraddhā in the words of Guru, Vaiṣṇava and Kṛṣṇa. He can follow this instruction. At the time of death Bharata Mahārāja was remembering a deer, and he became a deer.
If anyone is thinking of Rūpa Gosvāmī and following his instructions at the time of death, what will he become?
He will become the servant of Rūpa Gosvāmī. If he is thinking of Rūpa Mañjarī’s service, then surely he will get a body like Rūpa Mañjarī.
Why not?
Surely he will. If it does not happen like that, then Gītā is false, Bhāgavatam is false, all our literatures are false!
So if we are going to do something with our lives, why not follow this?
It’s easy. Swāmījī is saying that this instruction applies for the conditioned soul in the stage of bondage as well as for the siddha-mahā-puruṣa—it is meant for both the sādhaka and siddha. So we should try to follow it. Swāmījī has never said:
“When we are liberated, we will think of Kṛṣṇa and his associates.”
He has never said this anywhere!
Now, so many devotees are sounding an alarm:
“Don’t hear the pastimes of the tenth canto, otherwise you will be ruined. Swāmījī has told us not to hear these things.”
Where has he warned like this?
I want to see the places. He may have said this only for bogus persons who do not want to serve Kṛṣṇa. But he will not tell this to any person who has even a little honour for Kṛṣṇa. He cannot go against any śāstra, and all śāstras declare this.
satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ
yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ
(Bhagavad-Gītā 9.14)
[Constantly chanting My glories, endeavouring with determined vows, and offering praṇāmas to Me, these great souls engage In My worship and remain eternally united with Me.]
He has written like this.
So, it is not the true fact that we cannot hear the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa in this world. It is not true that we must first be liberated from all worldly desires and then we will go to Goloka Vṛndāvana, and only there we will hear the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. This is quite false, quite false, quite false!
I think that we will finish this Śloka tomorrow. It is very important and we will have to finish it. I wanted to tell the sweet pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, but I have been engaged only up to the ninth canto. Only yesterday I touched some boyhood pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, but I could not continue. I wanted to tell at least Kṛṣṇa’s very sweet boyhood pastimes, Dāmodara-līlā, Govardhana-dhara and all his other important pastimes, but I can touch only Dāmodara-līlā here, today or tomorrow.
Gaura premānande!
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