Tag: Sahajiyaism

  • Careful Approach

    Careful Approach

    Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj discusses the proper approach to divinity, and the genuine humility of the true Vaiṣṇavas.

    Mādhavendra Purī expressed the śloka ayi dīna-dayārdra nātha, and Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu said,

     ei śloka kahiyāchena rādhā-ṭhākurāṇī
    tāṅra kṛpāya sphuriyāche mādhavendra-vāṇī
    (Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, 2.4.194)

    This śloka was expressed by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in the mood of deep separation from Kṛṣṇa, and Mādhavendra Purī also tasted those deep feelings of separation. This is two persons, and here Chaitanya Mahāprabhu is also tasting that śloka. Ihā āsvādite āra nāhi chauṭha-jana, no fourth man can taste this śloka properly. If this is the comment of Śrīla Kavirāj Goswāmī, then where are you, and where am I? Everyone is unqualified. If divine grace will come then it may be possible to touch that śloka sometimes; otherwise, keep it in the museum! There is no other way. Be qualified and take it. This is the proper thinking.

    Ṭhākurera chandana-sādhana ha-ila bandhana (Cc: 2.4.148): Mādhavendra Purī wanted to hide himself, but he could not hide because Gopāl had ordered him to bring chandan, sandlewood. He needed to collect the chandan and if he did not reveal himself as Mādhavendra Purī how would he be able to get that chandan? Therefore he unhappily exposed his own position and told the people of Gopāl’s order. It was proved by Gopīnāth, because Gopināth stole kṣīr for him. This made everyone very enthusiastic to help him and the king’s men arranged everything to send the chandan.

    How can you stop the cheating? That is very difficult. Cheating business is going on in the society of Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur in many places by many persons. They do not even know that they are cheating, which is worse. If they know it is cheating, then there is some hope for them. But they do not know they are cheating.

    The difficulty is ego. Ego is a dangerous difficulty in society. This is existing within the sahajiyā sampradāy: they are thinking, “Yes, I am qualified”.  But Śrīla Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī said,

    āśā-bharair amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathañchit
    kālo mayāti-gamitaḥ kila sāmprataṁ hi 

    “Eighty years have passed, and still I have not got Your mercy. With so much hope I have passed eighty years but still I am ignored by You and I have not got Your mercy.” If Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī said this śloka, then how can we expect to get this type of fortune?

    āśā-bharair amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathañchit
    kālo mayāti-gamitaḥ kila sāmprataṁ hi
    tvañ chet kṛpāṁ mayi vidhāsyasi naiva kiṁ me
    prāṇair vrajena cha varoru bakāriṇāpi

    “Now I am going to die, and if You still do not bestow Your mercy, then what shall I do? Now I shall leave Kṛṣṇa, because without Your mercy Kṛṣṇa is useless for me.”

    Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī showed this type of mentality in old age. In another śloka, he says, “Kām and krodha are attacking me.” In which way will kām, lust, attack Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī? We can say that he is describing this for us, but when he is writing it is not for us; he is not thinking, “I am writing for Govinda Mahārāj”. He is not thinking that, he is thinking, “I am writing for myself”. This is in the Manaḥ-śikṣā of Dās Goswāmī: “I am attacked by lust”. In which way are you attacked by lust? You left everything in young age: jahau yuvaiva mala-vad, Uttama-śloka-lālasaḥ. And now you are such an old man. You cannot digest one cup of buttermilk. But Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī has written this there. That type of writing is so glorious: gurau goṣṭhe goṣṭhālayiṣu sujane bhū-suragaṇe.

    Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur and Śrīla Guru Mahārāj were in the same place and same rank in their realisation. What I have got from his lotus feet I can only say a little bit about. And they are not cheating. If tears would come in their eyes they would think it is false. They are actually real tears for Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, real tears for Kṛṣṇa, but they are checking them and saying that it is false. They are telling themselves, their own selves, that, “It is false, it is impossible, how will it come to me? I am unqualified.”

    In his last days Śrīla Guru Maharaj was always saying, “Nitāi, Nitāi.” He is Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī’s man. Everyone knows he is Rūpa Goswāmī’s man, so why was he telling, “Dayāl Nitāi, dayāl Nitāi”? He can say ‘Mahāprabhu’ at least, but he was not going up to that. He was living within the zone of Saṅkarṣaṇ and not going to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, even though he is actually living within those Pastimes. When Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur gave charge to him, and when Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur wanted to hear from him, then we must believe that he is living within that zone. And how strongly did Saraswatī Ṭhākur give opposition when the secretary ordered someone else to chant it! Saraswatī Ṭhākur stopped it, “No, no one here is qualified to sing this song; only Śrīdhar Mahārāj can do it. I want to hear from Śrīdhar Mahārāj.”

    I do not want to make anyone hopeless, but I want to be perfect and I want to see that our society is perfect all around. I understand that this is not possible, but still, to hope is not bad. Today we may not get it but one day we will be enriched with pure devotion. This is because the seed of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a very high standard seed. That is why we are giving this connection: today or tomorrow, they must get it. It has no limit in time, space, or anything like that. Very unqualified persons will also be enriched. That is possible. It is like lottery money. Rickshaw wallahs and others may win the lottery, and they are becoming rich.

    This article is a continuation of the post Jay Mā Kali.

    Source

    Spoken in Italy, September 2000, during His Divine Grace’s 16th World Tour.

    References

    gurau goṣṭhe goṣṭhālayiṣu sujane bhū-suragaṇe
    sva-mantre śrī-nāmni vraja-nava-yuva-dvandva-śaraṇe
    sadā dambhaṁ hitvā kuru ratim apūrvām atitarām
    aye svāntar bhrātaś chaṭubhir abhiyāche dhṛta-padaḥ
    (Manaḥ-śikṣā: 1)

    “Oh mind, I grasp your feet and beg you with sweet words: please cast away all hypocrisy and develop intense, unprecedented love for the spiritual master, Vrajabhūmi, the residents of Vraja, the pure Vaiṣṇavas, the brāhmaṇas, the gayatrī mantra, the Holy Name, and the transcendental shelter that is the fresh young couple of Vraja, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.”

    asach-cheṣṭā-kaṣṭa-prada-vikaṭa-pāśālibhir iha
    prakāmaṁ kāmādi-prakaṭa-pathapāti-vyatikaraiḥ
    gale baddhvā hanye ’ham iti bakabhid-vartmapa-gaṇe
    kuru tvaṁ phutkārān avati sa yathā tvaṁ mana itaḥ
    (Manaḥ-śikṣā: 5)

    “I am being bound tightly around the neck by the fearsome highwaymen of lust, anger, and so forth with the painful, fearsome ropes of my wicked deeds; I am being killed!” Cry out in this way to the Vaiṣṇavas, the guardians on the path to Kṛṣṇa, the slayer of Baka, so that they save you from these foes, O mind!”

    yo dustyajān dāra-sutān
    suhṛd-rājyaṁ hṛdi-spṛśaḥ
    jahau yuvaiva mala-vad
    uttama-śloka-lālasaḥ
    (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, 5.14.43)

    “Being very eager to gain the association of Lord Kṛṣṇa, King Bharat, although in the prime of youth, gave up his very attractive wife, affectionate children, most beloved friends and opulent kingdom, exactly as one gives up stool after excreting it.”

  • Transformation of our Hearts and Minds

    Transformation of our Hearts and Minds

    In this post we are continuing our series about the verse vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ cha Viṣṇoḥ from the Temple of Love and Affection.
    Thus far we have presented a condensed form of the meaning of vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir according to the conception of the verse expressed by Sriman Mahaprabhu to Pradyumna Misra in his glorification of Srila Ramananda Ray as well as explanations of this verse by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur . Now we are presenting an excerpt from the book Religion of the Heart in which Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj discusses the points both Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Srila Vishvanath Chakravarti Thakur made in relation to vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ cha Viṣṇoḥ.

    From Chapter Four of Religion of the Heart

    Devotee: Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad published the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam in a summary form as the Krishna books. There he described the Pastimes of Krishna with the gopis. He says if someone reads these Pastimes, or hears about them from a bona fide authority in Krishna consciousness, all that is lusty in his heart will disappear. Could you please explain how this is possible?

    Srila Govinda Maharaj: Yes. The shloka you are referring to is this:
    vikriditam vraja-vadhubhir idam cha vishnoh
    shraddhanvito ’nushrinuyad atha varnayed yah
    bhaktim param bhagavati pratilabhya kamam
    hrid-rogam ashv apahinoty achirena dhirah
    (Srimad-Bhagavatam: 10.33.39)
    “Anyone who with faith hears or describes the Lord’s playful affairs with the young gopis of Vrindavan will attain the Lord’s pure devotional service. Thus he will quickly become sober and conquer lust, the disease of the heart.”
    But there is a serious condition given in this shloka and Srila Prabhupad has explained what that condition is: that it is necessary to hear about Krishna consciousness from a bona fide authority in Krishna consciousness. And when one hears from a bona fide authority, that authority will not at first explain Krishna-lila but will start by trying to turn you into a good “receiver” of those Pastimes. He will prepare you so you can properly receive and understand those Pastimes. When you become a good receiver, or when you are qualified to hear those Pastimes, that authority will explain the Pastimes of Krishna with the gopis. Otherwise you will not be able to understand that supramental theory. It will not come to you in a proper way.
    When one receives transcendental knowledge from his Guru and is firm in his faith to his Guru, that person will begin to practice Krishna consciousness…

    When one begins to practice Krishna consciousness all his anarthas, or impurities, will leave him. Then he will be able to understand the Pastimes of Lord Krishna. But first his Guru must consider him a qualified candidate, then that spiritual authority will describe the Pastimes of Radha and Krishna—not before. If we hear those Pastimes without being qualified they will destroy our spiritual bhakti-lata-bija, the seed of the creeper of devotion. They will kill us—that is they will destroy our spiritual life of devotion and we will fall into the hellish garbage of sahajiyaism, or imitationism.

    There is another shloka in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.33.30) that describes how Lord Siva can digest an ocean of poison:
    naitat samācharej jātu
    manasāpi hy anīśvaraḥ
    vinaśyaty ācharan mauḍhyād
    yathārudro ’bdhi-jaṁ viṣam
    If one does not hold such a powerful position as Lord Shiva and drinks an ocean of poison, he will be destroyed. The play of the Sweet Absolute is like that, it is beyond the lustful plane of this world. Since we live in the lustful plane it is necessary to cross that plane by our practices. Then we will be able to understand the Pastimes of Radha and Krishna, and transcendental consciousness will appear in us.

    Since these are higher level topics, before we can approach them, it is necessary to change our consciousness from material to spiritual consciousness. It is necessary to pass through all the stages and varieties of material consciousness and come to the brahma-bhutah stage and we can do that by devotion. Then we will become qualified to hear the Pastimes of Radha and Krishna and transcendental consciousness will appear within us. If anything wrong remains within us in that plane it is known as a shadow of lust. This will be quickly demolished and very soon we will get clean Krishna-prema, or love, affection and service to Krishna. When our enjoying mood and spirit disappears we will become qualified for the service of the Vraja-gopis. The Srimad-Bhagavatam has given us this caution but one phrase is very important in the above shloka and that is, “the qualified spiritual master.”…

    Devotee: My experience is that the lust within me is not disappearing. At times it is suppressed but again it comes back. I think it hasn’t actually disappeared. Is this correct?
    Srila Govinda Maharaj:     Yes. It will completely disappear if we can keep ourselves in the plane of service; and the stage by stage process for doing that is given in the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu (1.4.15–16):
    adau shraddha tatah sadhu-sango ’tha bhajana-kriya
    tato ’nartha-nivrittih syat tato nishtha ruchis tatah
    Lust will remain with us up to the plane of ruchi. Ruchi means “taste.” Lust will disappear from our hearts when we become firmly situated in the plane of ruchi. When a special kind of attraction or taste for service to the Lord appears, I will be promoted to that plane of service. Then lust will leave and ruchi will develop. Lust will exist below the standard of ruchi. Sometimes it will come and sometimes it will go, and sometimes it will be suppressed.

    Lust has a very sweet name. It is called mano-bhava. Mano-bhava means it takes birth in the mind; it appears in the mind. If the mind is clear, lust will automatically go to Krishna. Lust will not come to your mind…Everyone can understand this if they will try. In the primary stage it is necessary to control lust; and in the final stage it will not appear because Krishna is Reality the Beautiful. All attachment, attraction and service will automatically go to Krishna. Love, affection and everything will go to Krishna and lust will disappear. It will not come again. Before that it will come and go. But don’t be fearful—it will be removed; it will be removed by dharma-buddhi. Lust can be removed by dharma-buddhi, and dharma-buddhi means religious intelligence.