Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj gives caution to practitioners on the day of Śrī Lalitā Devī’s appearance.
Why do I say “Jay Mā Kālī” from time to time? I should not say why, because if you hear then you will feel very shy. It is because it is not appropriate to discuss Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes in the place where we are living at present. It is impossible, and not only that, but offensive. For that reason I say “Jay Mā Kālī”. It is an appropriate place for Mother Kālī, but not Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. We are discussing about Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa no doubt, but the liberated souls are trying to discuss this, and not one of us is liberated. We have some hankering for hearing, however, and if you do not show something, if you do not give something, if you do not try to expose something, then attachment will take the form of detachment. For that reason we do some discussion sometimes.
Devotee: I heard that whether you are liberated or not liberated you must discuss this.
Śrīla Gurudev: In this way it will only be in the book, but not the heart. If you teach a parrot, the parrot will say, “Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā Kṛṣṇa”. But if you hit a parrot he will say “Tah! Tah! Tah!”. This is a fact.
It is very offensive if we try to take the position where Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī, Jīva Goswāmī, and Rūpa Goswāmī are living here in our mundane world of enjoyment. It is best if we will honour that plane from afar. Otherwise you can go to Mother Kālī and live with Mother Kālī, no problem. This is why I said you will be shy to hear why I say “Jay Mā Kālī”. We are living within the lap of Mother Kālī. A Ganges full of knowledge may be within us but it is useless. It has no value. It may only be a big mountain of offence.
Someone knows some English and they think that they can translate Śrīla Guru Mahārāj’s English Gītā. It is not so easy to translate. The day before yesterday a new book came to me and I saw that the devotees who published it made a massacre. I do not know their language but I know Sanskrit and I saw that they made a massacre. Without quality and qualification it is not possible to expose the substance properly. But our whole devotee section is doing that, and not only our section: I have seen that other societies have made more of a massacre, because they have published so many high standard books.
When Śrīla Guru Mahārāj published Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛtam it was a restricted law that it would not be given to everyone. At that time Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛtam was not available in the market, and Guru Mahārāj said it is an important book, and someone must publish it, otherwise it will be lost. But Guru Mahārāj also ordered us not to give it to everyone.
When Keśav Mahārāj published Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s Jaiva-dharma he divided it into two parts, and he did not distribute the second part, which is about rasa vichār, realisation of rasa; he published it, but did not distribute it. He said that the first part was suitable for the adhikār, capacity, of the general devotees, and whoever knows rasa vichār by the grace of Gurudev may read the second part. Guru Mahārāj was happy, not unhappy that Keśav Mahārāj published Jaiva-dharma like this. That was the standard, but now where is that standard? Now some groups are randomly printing and distributing Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, Madhurya-kaḍambinī, and many other books. This was not the process of Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur, and in the time of Saraswatī Ṭhākur even the third division students knew this and understood what was necessary to give to others.
The reading of Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta was restricted. Young men would not read it. I read it because I was the copyholder: Dr Śāstrī was the proofreader and I was copyholder, so I read it for making Sanskrit corrections. My memory was sharp and so I memorised it, but we did not read it actually. It was restricted because there is strong rasa vichār there.
māraḥ svayaṁ nu madhura-dyuti-maṇḍalaṁ nu
mādhuryam eva nu mano-nayanāmṛtaṁ nu
veṇī-mṛjo nu mama jīvita-vallabho nu
kṛṣṇo ’yam abhyudayate mama lochanāya
(68)
Śrīla Mādhav Mahārāj repeated this śloka many times, and Śrīla Kavirāj Goswāmī was very attracted to this śloka:
tvach-chhaiśavaṁ tri-bhuvanādbhutam ity avehi
mach-chāpalaṁ cha tava vā mama vādhigamyam
tat kiṁ karomi viralaṁ muralī-vilāsi
mugdhaṁ mukhāmbujam udīkṣitum īkṣaṇābhyām
(32)
“We do not know what We have done in our early young age. You know something, I know something. You guess something, I guess something. But now You and Myself are separated. Now what shall I do? When We played together that was one situation, and We had full freedom, but now full restriction has come, and You are aloof from the whole environment. Now You are in Mathurā, and now what shall I do?”
These are very high standard ślokas.
Reference
Spoken in Italy on Śrī Lalitā-saptamī, September 2000, during His Divine Grace’s Sixteenth World Tour.