Thursday 7 June 2012

Lord Ramacandra Conquers Over Ravana


Jaya Radha Madhava Kunj-Bihari
Gopi-Jana-Vallabha, Giri-var dhari
Yasoda-Nandana, Braja-jana Ranjana
Yamuna-tira-vana-cari
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare.
Nitai Gaura Hari Haribol
Jaya Jaya Prabhupada
Jaya Om Visnu Pada Paramahamsa
Pariracarya astottara-sata Sri Srimad Abhay Caranavrnda Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada ki jaya
Ananta-koti Vaisnava vrnda ki jaya, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jaya
Sri Sri Sita Rama Laxmana Hanuman ki jaya
Sri Sri Radha Rasa Bihari hi jaya
Grantha Raja Srimad Bhagvatam ki jaya
Sri Ramacandra Vijayotsava ki jaya
Gaura Premande Hari Haribol
All glories to the assembled devotees
All glories to the assembled devotees
All glories to the assembled devotees
All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Nama om visnu-padaya krsna-prosthetic bhu-tale
Srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
Namaste sarasvate deve gaura-vani-procaine
Nirvesesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine
Om namo Bhagvate Vasudevaya
Om namo Bhagvate Vasudevaya
Om namo Bhagvate Vasudevaya
SB 4th Canto, Chapter 25, The Characteristics of King Puranjana text 46.
Panca dvaras tu paurastya
Daksinaika tathottara
Pascime dve amusam te
Namani nrpa varnaye
SYNONYMS
Panca-five; dvarah-doors; tu-then; paurastyah-facing the eastern side;
daksina-southern; eka-one; tatha-also; uttara-one toward the north;
pascime-similarly, on the western side; dve-two; amusam-of them; te-unto you;namaninames; nrpa-O King; varnaye-I shall describe.
Translation by His Divine Grace Srila Praphupada
My dear King, of the nine doors, five led toward the eastern side, one led
toward the northern side, one led toward the southern side, and two led toward the
western side. I shall try to give the names of these different doors. Please repeat after me.
Purport by Srila Prabhupada
Of the seven doors on the surface – namely the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and one
mouth – five look forward, and these are described as the doors facing the eastern side.
Since looking forward means seeing the sun, these are described as the eastern gates, for
the sun rises in the east. The gate on the northern side and the gate on the southern side
represent the two ears, and the two gates facing the western side represent the rectum and
the genitals. All the doors and gates are described below.
So Narada Muni is telling Kind Pracinabarhi about the city of nine gates,
where Puranjana was dwelling. So who is Puranjana? Puranjana is the
living entity and what is the city of the nine gates? The human body. The
human body has nine gates, nine doors, nine outlets for the senses to function. Those nine
knowledge acquiring senses are two eyes, two nostrils, one mouth, two ears and anus and
genitals. These are the senses through which Puranjana, the living entity tries to enjoy in
the human body. The consciousness tries to exploit the external material nature through
these nine gates in the human body. These are all actually, these nine gates are not all the
knowledge acquiring, some are knowledge and some are working. Like rectum and
genitals are the working senses. So the living entity is trying to enjoy in this material
nature in the human form, achieving the human body. And this has been very
wonderfully described by Narada Muni and ultimately Narada Muni is leading to the
ultimate goal of life.
Puranjana was trying to enjoy. The living entity is trying to enjoy and the best possibility
of enjoyment, the best kind of facilities for enjoyment is provided when? In the human
form of life. When one gets the human body, he gets the most wonderful opportunity to
enjoy in this material nature. But at the same time he also gets an opportunity to finish
all his business in the material nature which is nothing but a prison house. So Puranjana
in his next life we will see that how he will fullfil that goal of life. In this life Puranjana
was completely lost in his sense gratification. In the city of nine gates he was trying to
enjoy as the lord and master with his queen. As a king with his queen.
Jai Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jaya
Jai Sri Sri Radha Ras Bihari ki jaya
Jai Sri Sri Sita Ram Laxman Hanuman ki jaya
And more elaborately this.this will be explained in the following verses that’s what is
forecast. Narada Muni is telling King Pracinabarhi that how in the next few verses he
will describe the names of those gates and the names of those gates are actually
synonymous to the purpose and function of these gates.
So today also is Vijaya Dasami, which is also known as Rama Vijaya utsava, it is also
known as Daseraha, as Dushera. And so today is the day we celebrate Ramacandra’s
victory over Ravana. Ramacandra is none other than the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. Although in Ramacandra’s pastimes we find that Ramacandra is not really
revealing His identity as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is just acting as an
ordinary person. Say for example when Indra sent Him the chariot to fight with Ravana
then Rama was directing Matali, the chariot driver: “Go close to Ravana, go this way, go
that way, and then Rama, Ramacandra felt very bad that. He is instructing the chariot
driver of Indra, who is a very exalted personality. He is a chariot driver of Indra. So he
apologized, he said please don’t mind I am directing you, I am commanding you, I’m
instructing you. After all, you’re such an exalted personality, you’re the charioteer of
Indra. So this is how Ramacandra is performing His pastimes too.
Why does the Supreme Personality of Godhead come? He comes to paritranaya
sadhunam, vinasaya ca duskrtam, He comes to annihilate the demons and protect His
devotees. And we can go back further, like once, Jaya and Vijaya, two gatekeepers
desired to give the Lord a chance to experience the mellow of chivalry. The mellow of
chivalry the Lord cannot experience in Vaikuntha because in Vaikuntha no one fights
with Him. So Jaya and Vijaya felt that this is one mellow that the Lord is not
experiencing. It would be so nice if we could give Him, if we could enable Him to
experience the mellow of chivalry. And then by the arrangement of Yoga Maya all
kinds of wonderful things started to happen!
Four Kumaras appeared at the gate of Vaikuntha and Jaya and Vijaya obstructed their
entry because they appeared to be just like four lttle children wandering around naked.
And they felt that in this way you cannot enter Vaikuntha. And this is no place for just
some, just some loafing children.
So they stopped them and the four Kumaras became very upset and said that “You are not
fit to remain in Vaikuntha. You are not fit to be the gate keepers of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. So, you fall down and you take birth as human beings, you take
birth in the earth planet, the lower regions of the material nature. And as a result of that,
Jaya and Vijaya appeared in Satya Yuga as Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu, in Treta-yuga
as Ravana and Kumbakharna and in Dvapara Yuga they appeared as Sisupala and
Dantavakra.
In this way, what did they do ? They enabled the Lord to experience the mellow of
chivalry. What a terrible fight they gave to the Lord! And they appeared as demons!
Appearing as a demon, they caused so much distress to this world and to so many
people. Well, this is the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So,
ultimately we have to see that all this was happening by the divine arrangements of Yoga
Maya, in order to enhance the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Ravana, as you know, became extremely powerful with the boon of Lord Brahma.
Ravana performed severe austerities for ten years. And after completion of one year he
would chop off one head and he would offer it into the sacrificial fire. For nine years he
offered nine heads, at the end of nine years of sacrifice and performing austerities. And
then on the tenth year, when Ravana was about to offer his tenth head, then Lord Brahma
appeared. Brahma asked Ravana, “Why are you doing that? Why are you performing
such ghastly austerities? What do you want ?” “Ravana said I want to become immortal.
Brahma reminded him that he does not have the ability to grant immortality to anybody.
In this material nature, everyone, including himself is susceptible to death!
Then, Ravana somehow got some benediction which was almost as being immortal.
Ravana had a storage of nectar in his heart and as a result of that he became almost
immortal. The boon he got was that if one head was cut off, another head would
reappear. So by cutting his head no one would be able to kill him. And Ravana became
extremely powerful. And he defeated, with this power he defeated. The first person he
defeated was his own half-brother, Kuvera. Because Kuvera was occupying Lanka,
which was actually designed for the Raksasas and demons.
There were three original demons, Mali, Sumali and Malyavan. They were residing in
Lanka originally. But then, when, by the influence of the Lord, they saw His
inconceivable power, they ran away to the lower regions. And in the mean time, Kuvera,
by performing austerities, he became very powerful. He wanted to have the position of a
dikhpala. Dikhpala, there are four dikhpalas : Varuna, Indra, [inaudible] and the fourth
one is Kuvera. When Kuvera asked his father, Kulastha, where he should live, then
Kulastha said he should go and reside in Lanka. Kuvera started to reside in Lanka.
And in the mean time Brahma also asked Kuvera, “Kuvera, what do you want”, after
being satisfied with his performance of austerities. So, Kuvera said I want to be one of
the Dikpalas. So, Brahma said :”Yes, there is a need for a fourth dikpala. So, you
become a dikhpala. In this way, Kuvera became a dikpala and Kuvera was occupying
Lanka.
So, when Ravana came back after acquiring such inconceivable power and he was being
instigated by Sumali. You are our successor, you are our hope, so you go and occupy
Lanka. So Ravana was first reluctant, he said : “Well, Kuvera is my brother” How can I
take it away from him.
But being induced by Sumali, Kuvera ultimately went and . Then Kuvera said :”Look I
received this place from my father, who is also your father. So, let us live together as
brothers. But Ravana said :”No, I want this whole place for myself. And a fight ensued
and in that battle Kuvera was defeated. So, Kuvera escaped from Lanka and he went to
Kailash to take shelter of Lord Shiva. Kuvera was also a great devotee of Lord Shiva. So
after that Ravana actually started to conquer the three worlds. He went and attacked the
heavenly planets. Indra had a tough time. He attacked all the big, big kings, but no one
was a match to Ravana.
Many kings, including Ramacandra’s forefather Anaranya, was killed by Ravana. And
while dying Anarayana cursed him : “Your death will take place in my family. A great
personality will appear in my dynasty and you will die in his hands. So, then Ravana
attacked Yamaraja. And Ravana was giving Yamaraja a tough time. Yamaraja’s soldiers
were defeated by Ravana. Finally, Yamaraja came with his Yamadanda. This
yamadanda, the stick of Yamaraja. Whoever he touches with his yamadanda he is bound
to die. Yama came with his yamadanda and he was about to kill Ravana. At that time
Brahma came. And he will not be killed in your hand. I gave him a boon that he will not
be killed by any demigod, he won’t be killed by any rakshasa, daitya, naga. He is not
going to be killen by any of them. Only Ravana forgot to ask the boon that he will not be
killed by human beings and animals. If you kill him, then my benediction that I gave him
will be nullified, that will create a heavoc, that will create a disaster in the universal
affairs.. You don’t kill him. And he assured him that the Lord will come in a human form
and He will be assisted by the animals like monkeys and bears. That is how he will be
defeated. So, wait for some time. So Yamaraja then just disappeared from the battlefield.
And Ravana thought he even defeated Yamaraja.
So in this way Ravana went conquering everybody. Ravana was also causing a lot of
distress to the saintly people, the sages who were performing austerities. Ravana then
appeared to Mount Kailash. He was actually passing through Mount Kailash, and at that
time Nandi told him that no Lord Siva is sporting with Parvati and no-one should come
here at this time. So Ravana said,”Who cares for your Lord Siva, I decide what I do I do
not accept any order from anybody else”. So in this way Ravana and Nandi had some
disagreement and finally Ravana tried to lift the mountain. He was so powerful that he
could even lift Kailash, and when he did that, Parvati was sitting next to Lord Siva and
Parvati lost her balance and she just held on to Lord Siva and she was surprised what
happened.
Lord Siva knew what happened. So with his toe he just pressed the mountain top and it
smashed Ravana’s hands. The twenty hands of Ravana were smashed. He started to
scream in pain, and then his ministers told what actually happened and they said that start
singing the glory of Lord Siva instead of screaming in pain. So Ravana who also is a very
accomplished singer so he started to sing the glory of Lord Siva. And Lord Siva who is
Asutosh who is very quickly pleased, he was pleased. Not only he released his pressure
of his toe and let Ravana be relieved of his hands being pressed under the mountain but
he was also was very, very pleased with Ravana.
And Ravana was causing all kinds of distresses, he was like any other extremely
materialistic person, he was very lusty, wherever he would see any beautiful woman, he
would just kidnap them and not only that he would kill the girl’s family members. In this
way he took away many celestial damsels, many daughters of rsis and many daughters of
kings and in this way Ravana was married to many, many women, thousands of women
were there in his palace.
One day Ravana was flying with his pushpak vimana, and that also an important thing to
remember. When Ravana defeated Kuvera, this pushpaka chariot belongs to Kuvera, so
when Ravana defeated Kuvera, he took away the chariot, the chariot that could fly
through the sky, with the speed of the mind and following the dictations of the driver, the
person who is in the chariot. And we can also see that it was not a small little thing,
flying machine, it has an unlimited space also, this chariot could assume any dimension
according to the need. If one person was driving it was according to that space, but if
twenty persons were on the chariot it would expand, it would become bigger. Like for
example when Ramacandra wanted to go when He wanted to go to Ayodhya He wanted
to take all the monkeys with Him, and all the monkeys fitted into the pushpaka vimana
and then while He was flying over Kishkindha, He recalled : ‘This is where the monkeys
were and this is where we spent four months of caturmasya, on the Rishamukha
mountain, and when He was telling that to Sita, then Sita desired that all the monkeys’
wives should also come to Ayodhya with Them. So Rama stopped the chariot and all the
monkeys’ wives were also invited into the chariot and they all flew in, into Ayodhya.
So anyway when pushpak was flying above Himalayan mountain then on the valley of
the Himalayas, Ravana saw one extremely beautiful woman, was performing austerities
all by herself. So Ravana wanted to kidnap her. He went and asked, “Who are you?” So
she identified herself as Vedavati, a daughter of a king, who was actually performing
austerities and became a sage and she wanted to have the Supreme Personality of
Godhead as her husband. And Ravana said, “Why the Supreme Personality of Godhead?
I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead, so you become my wife”. She said, “No, no
the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Narayana, I want to be His wife.” When Ravana
could not convince her, he tried to forcibly molest her. He grabbed her by her hair, but
Vedavati with her mystic power, she turned her hand into a sword and cut off her hair
that Ravana was holding and she announced that now with your touch this body has
become contaminated and with this body I do not want to receive Narayana. Saying that
she entered into fire, she generated a fire from her body and she left her body. And while
leaving her body she said, “I will come back again and I will be the cause of your death.”
And this Vedavati became Sita, Janaki, the daughter of King Janaka.
In course of time, Janaki was married to Lord Ramacandra and there was another
arrangement of Yogamaya and as a result of that Ramacandra was banished to the forest
for 14 years. Ramacandra had to go to the forest for 14 years. After that intrigue, due to
that intrigue Ramacandra had to go to the forest and Ravana stole Sita, took her to Lanka.
And then while searching for Sita, Ramacandra came across the monkeys in the
Rishamukha mountain, and He made friends, He made alliance with the king of the
monkeys, Sugr iva, who was also bereft of his wife and banished by his brother who stole
away his wife, Bali, so then Rama actually killed Bali on behalf of Sugriva and made
Sugriva the king of the monkeys, and with that force, with the monkey soldiers Ravana
was attacked in Lanka by Lord Ramacandra. The battle continued for some time and
Ravana was so convinced that this one human being, actually Ravana did not ask any
immunity from any human beings when he was asking for the boon from Brahma
because in his eyes humans beings are so insignificant, he never really thought much of
the human beings. So he thought just two human beings and a bunch of monkeys what
can they do to me?
He made a big calculation, he failed to recognise this particular human being and His
brother, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna. Vasudeva and Sankarsana appeared
as Rama and Laksmana. So there was an attack on Lanka and Ravana started to loose,
Ravana who was defeating even the demigods, Indrajit, he took Indra as a captive and
brought him to Lanka therefore he got the name Indrajit one who defeated Indra. And he
was so powerful and he was also practically immortal. And Kumbhakarna, another
personality, he was so powerful. And Ravana’s generals like Prahash, they all were such
powerful personalities, they could encounter with the demigods and defeat them. But
these two human being started to annihilate Ravana’s entire army with a bunch of
monkeys who did not have any weapons to fight with. Ravana’s soldiers were equipped
with the most sophisticated weapons which could actually deal with the demigods. But
here, these monkeys they did not even have any sword or spears or arrows or bows. They
were just fighting with uprooted trees and stones, bolders,big, big bolders. That’s what
happens when one acts for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he becomes empowered
in the most wonderful ways. They were empowered by the Lord’s internal potency, the
Lord’s spiritual potency.   They were just throwing stones but those stones were more
powerful than the thunder. And they are killing the rakshasas in the thousands. And of
course we have to also remember that these monkeys are not ordinary personalities. Like
for example Sugr iva, when he went, when he saw Ravana, after building the bridge to
cross the ocean, they came unto the Subhala mountain and from there they could see
Lanka from top. He saw Ravana observing the situation from the northern gate of Lanka.
And as soon as Sugriva saw that, Sugriva just jumped and he landed in front of Ravana
and he gave him such a smack that Ravana’s crown went flying and he started to real.
Ravana who is so powerful that one smack of Sugriva almost made him faint. And of
course Ravana got back his composure. And then theys started to fight, wrestle with each
other. And they fell onto the ground from the gate. And Ravana saw that Sugriva was
more powerful, he could not defeat Sugriva. Then he wanted to use his illusory energy
and he disappeared. When Sugriva realised that now he is going to use his illusory energy
to fight with him, he jumped back to Ramacandra.
Rama was very upset with Sugriva. He said, You should not act in such hasty ways.
You should not act so irresponsibly. You are the king. What would have happened if
you died. Then our whole mission would have been lost. Because without a king you
cannot fight a battle. So this is the point, these monkeys are not ordinary individuals.
They all are different demigods who appeared as monkeys to confront Ravana. So this is
how monkeys were actually causing a havoc to Ravana.
Anyway, at the end of the battle all the big generals were dead, Indrajit was dead. Before
that Kumbakarna was dead. Finally Indrajit is dead.
When Indrajit died, Ravana became completely worried. Because he had his confidence
that the monkeys will not be able to defeat him with the help of these two human beings.
But Indrajit, who defeated even Indra and he tied him up with a special rope, the
brahmastra. He used the brahmastra as a rope and he brought Indra to Lanka. And it is
due to Brahma’s request that he released Indra. And he was so powerful and now he is
dead.
Finally Ravana came to fight himself on the battlefield. Ravana appeared in the
battlefield riding on his chariot. And Lord Ramacandra was fighting against Ravana, just
standing on the ground on his foot, on his legs. Indra felt that is unfair. Ravana is
fighting on his chariot and Rama is fighting, standing on his feet, like a foot soldier. So,
he immediately sent his chariot and his driver Mathali. Mathali appeared and said that
Indra has sent this chariot to fight against Ravana. Rama accepted that gift of Indra. He
got into the chariot and started to fight against Ravana. And Ravana tried to cut the flag
of Indra’s chariot. But before the arrow could reach the shaft of the chariot, Rama
released an arrow and deflected that arrow of Ravana. Ravana tried to kill the horses of
Indra’s chariot. He shoot many, many arrows to the horses, but nothing happened to
these celestial horses. They are totally unaffected.
In this way the fight ensued. Ravana was releasing so many arrows. Ramacandra was
being hit by some arrows but most of them Rama actually deflected them with his own
arrows. Finally, when Ravana saw that he cannot compete with Rama in this fair battle,
front battle, he took shelter of his mystic power and he made all kinds of weapons, all
kinds of mountain tops,   mountain peaks and bolders fell on Rama but Rama with his
arrows shattered them all to pieces. And this battle was so exciting that all the demigods
appeared on the sky, the sages appeared on the sky, the Gandharvas, Kindharas, the
Siddhas and Caranas they all crowded, crowded on the sky and they were spell bound,
they were stunned seeing this fight. And when the fight was going on in this way, Rama
was releasing his arrows and those arrows were cutting Ravana’s heads but as soon as the
head would fall on the ground, it would again come back, an other head would appear. In
this way Rama cut hundreds of Ravana’s heads. But Ravanas heads were all intact.
Sometimes Ravana was fighting with ten heads, sometimes Ravana was fighting with one
head, assuming his normal form. But Rama was finding it very difficult.
So at that time Mathali, Indra’s chariot driver, told Him, “Ramacandra, why are you
fighting just on your defense? Kill that person! Use Brahmastra! You have the
Brahmastra, so why aren’t You using that?” So then Rama took the Brahmastra which He
received from Agastya Muni. When He was in Dandakaranya Agastya gave Him this
Brahmastra. This Brahmastra, the feather of this arrow, was made with the feathers of
Garuda. The tip of that arrow was empowered with the potency of Agni and Surya, the
Fire god and Sun god. The Meru mountain caused the gravity of that arrow. The potency
of the Meru mountain was invested in that arrow to create the gravity or the weight. And
the shaft of that arrow was created by etheral element. So that is how Brahmastra has
been described.
So Rama just placed that arrow on His bow. And in the mean time all inauspicious signs
began to appear. From nowhere the clouds started to pour blood on Ravana and the
vultures were following Ravana from behind. And jackals started to howl. And Ravana,
seeing that inauspicious sign, could recognize the time has come for him to die. And in
the mean time when Rama placed the arrow all the monkeys became excited, all the
demigods became excited that now this demon is going to meet his end. Whereas all the
Rakshasas they started to shake with fear, tremble with fear. So Rama placed the arrow
on His bow and then He released that arrow. It just went straight on to Ravana’s heart and
the nectar that was there, it dried up the nectar and went straight down to the centre of the
earth, centre of the earth, and then from there it came back to Lord Ramacandra’s quiver.
Ravana’s body fell dead on the ground. So seeing that all the Rakshasas started to flee,
and all the monkeys began to rejoice. Ravana’s chief wives came, headed by Mandodari.
Mandodari was crying, “My Lord, why didn’t you listen to the advice of all your well
wishers? They all told you to return the wife of Rama. If you did that, then probably we
could have enjoyed your association for many, many more years to come. But just
because of your arrogance, that you wouldn’t listen to anybody, you are now lying dead
on the ground.”
Ramacandra asked Vibhishana to do the final rites, the cremation of Ravana. Vibhishana
refused. He said that, “I don’t want to perform the cremation of a sinner like him, who
stole so many people’s wives and took Your eternal consort away from You. I am not
going to perform his funeral.” Ramacandra told him that, “Now that he is dead, all those
animosity should be over. You are the only one remaining in the family to perform his
funeral, because all his sons are dead. Not a single member of the family is surviving
except for you.” So finally, on Rama’s instruction Vibhishana performed Ravana’s
funeral and then Ramacandra coronated Visbhishana on the throne of Lanka.
Then Sita was brought, but Rama, Sita was waiting just to see Rama, but Sita was
surprised the way Rama wanted Her to come to Him. She had to walk like an ordinary
woman, and She was wondering, She was asking Hanuman, “Why is He treating Me like
this? I have undergone so much trials and tribulations because of Him. I was waiting for
this day and now the time has come, He killed Ravana, He wants Me to be in this way,
come to Him in this way, as an ordinary woman.” And then, when She came,
Ramacandra declared that She’ll have to prove Her purity. Sita was, although heartbroken, She was prepared. But at the same time her heart was completely shattered that
why Rama was treating Her like that?
Lord Shiva and Brahma appeared and told Rama, “Rama, why are You treating Sita,
Your eternal consort in this way?” Then Ramacandra said that, “I am a king and I have to
prove my sanctity as well as the sanctity of My wife to My citizens. And that’s why,
before accepting, I want Her to go through this test.” Although Lord Brahma and Lord
Shiva vouched for Sita’s purity, but still Ramachandra would not listen to them. At that
time Brahma actually told Him, “Rama, You forgot who You are! While You are playing
the role of a human being, You forgot that You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead!
You’re behaving just like an ordinary human being.” And finally they admitted that, “I
know that this is Your pastimes and You are playing the role in the most perfect way.”
And Sita entered into the fire, at that time Agnideva appeared, Sungod appeared. I’m
sorry, Firegod appeared and told Rama, Sita is pure. Of course, there is another angle to
this incidence. When Ravana came to steal Sita, Sita took shelter of Agni, because it is a
custom that in the house they always have a flame burning. So even in the cottage of
Lord Ramacandra this flame was burning, so Sita, finding no one there to take shelter of,
took shelter of Agnideva. And Agnideva actually took Sita away and placed a Maya Sita
in Her place, or a Maya Sita appeared in Her place.
So Ravana didn’t steal Sita. What to speak of steal Sita, Ravana cannot even touch Sita
devi. Who actually he stole, was Maya Sita, which has been very wonderfully revealed
by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, this fact. So Ravana then, I am sorry, Agnideva brought
that original Sita to Lord Ramachandra. So when Sita went through this apparent fire test,
the Maya Sita disappeared and original Sita appeared. So in this way, original Sita
appeared, the eternal consort of the Lord, and as I mentioned earlier, then they decided to
go to Ayodhya, because fourteen years period was over. But Vibhishana requested Rama
to stay in Lanka for a little longer. So Rama complied to Vibhishana’s request and He
stayed in Lanka for some time. Then finally they decided to go to Ayodhya. Vibhishana
gave them, gave Ramachandra the Pushpaka chariot and Ramachandra…
Oh, in the meantime another thing happened. Soon after this battle was over, along with
demigods, Indra came. And Indra said, “Lord Ramacandra, although I know who You
are, but still when I come, I grant some boon to whoever sees me. So please ask for a
boon.” So Lord Ramacandra said, “Let all the monkeys come back to life. And wherever
these monkeys reside, all the trees become filled with fruits for their pleasure.” Indra
said, “Although it is a very, very difficult boon to fulfill, I will do it by Your mercy.”
[laughter] And this is how all the monkeys, those who died in the battle, fighting on
behalf of Lord Ramacandra came back to life. So this is how we see, that when we side
with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and no matter how difficult the task is,
ultimately we become not only victorious but we, even if we die in that battle, we regain
our life.
Hare Krishna! Sri Ramachandra ki jaya! Sri Rama Vijayotsava ki jaya! Vijaya Dasami
Mahotsava ki jaya! Jagad Guru Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Sri Sri Gaura Nitai ki jaya! Sri
Sri Radha Rasabihari ki jaya! Sri Sri Sita Rama Lakshmana Hanumana ki jaya! Gaura
Premanande Hari Haribol! All glories to the assembled devotees! [Hare Krishna] All
glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Namo Om Visnu Padaya Krishna Presthaya Bhutale Srimate Bhaktivedanta Swamin Iti
Namine
Namaste Saraswate Deve Gaura Vani Pracharine Nirvisesa Sunyavadi Paschatya Desa
Tarine

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Vaisanava Ettiqette Part-1



Hare Krishna.
The first thing today is because it is a seminar there may be a need to take notes. Did you bring paper and a pen? Everyone brought pens and paper? Who did not bring? Anyway, I can see that most of you have brought a pen and paper. That is very nice. Vaisnava etiquette is a very vast subject but here
we will conduct it only for two days. Today, being the first day, we will discuss about the general understanding of Vaisnava etiquette, the general external aspect of Vaisnava etiquette and tomorrow we will deal with more of an internal and behavioural aspect of Vaisnava etiquette. For example, the
first thing we will today will be "what is the meaning or definition of Vaisnava etiquette?"
So, this Vaisnava etiquette is a combination of two words: Vaisnava andetiquette. Vaisnava everybody knows and etiquette means the activity and behaviour of a Vaisnava. So then the question arises: "who is a Vaisnava?" The general understanding or definition of Vaisnava is one who is a devotee of Vishnu is a Vaisnava. Vishnu-bhakta is Vaisnava. One - meaning one who has surrendered himself to Vishnu is a Vaisnava. Who is Vishnu? Again now the question arises, "Who is Vishnu? " Vishnu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Does anybody have any doubt about that? Do you all believe in the
Supreme Personality of Godhead? Who doesn't believe in Vishnu or the Supreme Personality of Godhead? At least here everybody does.And those who believe in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are the
fortunate souls. They are really fortunate. So, devotees of Vishnu are Vaisnavas. The word Vaisnava has been derived from the word Vishnu, which means devotee of Vishnu. Devotee, what is the meaning of the word devotee then? We again go back to this point: "What is the meaning of the word devotee?" So the word devotee means basically one who believes in Vishnu,believes in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who surrenders himself to the Supreme Personality of Godhead? One, as a result of his surrender,
depends upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead and depending upon Him, he serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead and in this way he develops his love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So, this devotion begins with surrender and goes up to love. First aspect of devotion is surrender. Well, another thing of course comes before surrender.What is that? Faith because we believe in Krishna, therefore we surrender to Krishna. Those who don't believe in Krishna cannot surrender to Krishna. So,
therefore the first consideration is sraddha. At the beginning there is sraddha tatah sadhu- sangah. So first is sraddha. So sraddha leads to  saranagati, surrender. And through the surrender it reaches prema. Atyanta
durlabha prema koribare dana, sikhaya saranagati bhakatera prana. In order to bestow, in order to offer very rare Krishna prema - love for Krishna -Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is teaching us the process of surrender.

Thursday 5 April 2012

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RETREATS


Hare Krishna,
I was also thinking that I spoke for about one hour, but what I really wanted to say I didn’t say that. What I really wanted to say is that I am very happy to be here with you all.Devotees: “Haribol!” (clapping)
I had been missing you all very much. Actually it has been one of the longest absences from England last twenty five years. I’ve been coming practically every three months or so, but this time I have been away for about nine months. Probably you can understand my difficulties and
different responsibilities, different other areas, which didn’t allow me to or enable me to come
earlier. But often I thought of you all and I do miss it very much, especially Bhaktivedanta
Manor, and I feel very happy to be here with you all and I’m very happy to see you all.
Although I couldn’t have much of a personal exchange with most of you but I’m looking forward
to more of personal exchanges.
And in this respect I also wanted to mention that, today I was told that this year the participation
in the Malaga retreat is even lesser than last year. Whereas last year the feeling actually was that
this year there would be more devotees, because devotees were so excited after the retreat that
they felt that many more would come. So in this respect I just want to let you know that this
retreat actually has been designed simply for the sake of your association. Like, when I had the
heart problem two years back I was told by the doctor not to travel so much and I also realized
that I cannot possibly travel very much nowadays.
That’s why I thought that I would spend one week in…, just in one place, away from everything,
where the devotees come and meet me and we can spend the time together. And I also used to
tell them that, all the time, all this years I had been travelling to come to you, now you travel a
little to come to me. So, please consider the importance of this retreat. I need to spend time with
you. I have taken some responsibility for your spiritual life and I feel very guilty that I am not
able to execute it properly; guiding you personally, taking care of your spiritual life personally.
So please make it a point to come to the retreat.
Thank you.

Saturday 24 March 2012

The History Of Vaishnava Heritage Part-9 (C)



My personal observation is that the first crisis that came was a system that was implemented soon after Srila Prabhupada's disappearance which has later been known as the "Zonal Acharya system". Srila Prabhupada was the Founder-Acharya of this movement and when he was present, he was in his exclusive position of the highest authority of this movement. He was the leader of this movement. He was the spiritual master of this movement. But after Srila Prabhupada left the planet, then a number of leading devotees of the movement assumed the position of initiating spiritual master. They kind of assumed the same kind of worship and the same kind of position as Srila Prabhupada used to have. Actually, it became even worse because Prabhupada was not present and they were present. One of the things that started a lot of controversy was simultaneous guru-puja. Unlike today, fortunately we got rid of those arrangements, there used to be the vyasasana of the zonal guru, this was practically identical to Srila Prabhupada's vyasasana, may be a fraction of an inch shorter than Srila Prabhupada's. and the Guru puja used to go on simultaneously: Prabhupada's guru puja and the present guru's guru puja. That gave an impression that they were as good as Srila Prabhupada and they actually are having the same kind of worship. Since then, we can see a record of continuous loss in ISKCON. When these gurus assumed their position as the guru, then those who were in leadership positions but did not become gurus were the first ones to leave the ISKCON movement. They were very powerful personalities, very, very powerful individuals, but because they did not become gurus, they left. Not all, but w can say that some of them left. Then those who did not line up with the gurus, the god brothers who did not line up with the gurus in some areas, they were driven out of the movement because they did not become obedient. They did not submit to the leadership. Then, some of the gurus started to fall down. Their disciples started to leave the movement. That was the very, very, big blow to the movement. When a guru left, when a guru fell down, their disciples left by the hundreds. Many areas where the gurus left, the whole area became crippled. In 1987, there was a reform, but after twelve or thirteen years, when we analyze, then we see that although we thought it was a reform, it was watering down the same mistaken system. Today, our society has become considerably weak because of that mistake. This is one of the problems our society faced after Srila Prabhupada's disappearance, the zonal acharya system. Another problem is the abnormal worship of devotees who assumed the position of spiritual masters and neglect and abuse of devotees. The gurus got worship as lofty as the Supreme Personality of Godhead in many areas, whereas devotees were neglected. Our children were neglected. The women were neglected. The women were used and abused. To give an example, one very important person visited our temple somewhere. I do not want to mention the name of the temple. She was a lady. After one day there, she said she lost all faith in the movement. The reason she gave was the lifestyle the spiritual master had and the lifestyle the general devotees had. There was such a gulf of difference between those lifestyles. There was such a big difference that she lost all faith. That is just to make this point. Unfair means of collecting money was another problem. During Srila Prabhupada's time, the main means of collection, the main source of income was Prabhupada's books. Through the books, Srila Prabhupada built Vrindavan temple, Bombay temple and he established the movement all over the world. Srila Prabhupada himself told that the book business is the best business and books are the basis. As books went out, there was preaching and money came in. After Srila Prabhupada's disappearance, the leaders introduced a kind of paraphernalia distribution. One of the pioneers of that was a close friend of mine. Once he told me how he got into that. He said that he just came across a stock of LPs from a record-manufacturing place, like a few thousand, a colossal number of records and they bought them for a few cents. These LPs he bought for a few cents each. He felt that the sankirtan devotees are such good devotees that they can go and sell these because the book selling was becoming a little difficult. So they introduced the selling of these records. In order to sell those records, they started to lie. They would say, "O this is the latest album by George Harrison." Whereas, George Harrison was nowhere. In this way, that thing would cost a few cents, they would sell it for a few dollars. A lot of money started to come in. In Canada, there was a big supplier who was importing paintings from Hong Kong. A big three-foot by ten-foot painting would cost them ten dollars. So-called sankirtan devotees would go out and claim that they are painters. They are the artists and they have come to sell the paintings. They would fetch an incredible price. The painting that cost ten dollars would sell for two hundred dollars. In this way, an incredible amount of money started to come in. as a result of that, book distribution stopped and devotees' spiritual standard deteriorated. Our society faced a major crisis. Another thing was the change up. Anyway, I do not want to get into that. I am just giving the very basic understanding to make you all aware. On one hand, we should all become aware of our glorious heritage. At the same time, it is important that we become aware of the mistakes we made which made us pay a heavy price. We have to recognize both the sides and recognize what not to do. The gurus started to fall down and that caused a lot of damage. Conflict between devotees; Srila Prabhupada wanted us to cooperate, but instead we started to fight. That also caused a lot of damage. Posthumous Guru System: one trend has come up that Prabhupada would continue to give initiation even after his disappearance. That understanding gained some popularity and started to surface time and time again. The first came up in 1988. A group of devotees felt that the gurus are not good enough; the gurus are falling down, other gurus will also fall down, and this is causing a lot of damage to our society. So, let Prabhupada continue to give initiation. Everybody will become Prabhupada's disciple. It is a safe course, but the problem is that there is no precedence of this system in the past. There is no scriptural evidence. Nor did Prabhupada himself say anything emphatically about this. The last one is the lack of faith in the leadership in ISKCON, and as a result of that, ISKCON devotees seeking guidance outside of ISKCON. Some people are coming from outside and practically cleaning up. ISKCON devotees who have become disillusioned, who have lost their faith in ISKCON are finding recourse that "Here is the real shelter." They are leaving ISKCON and going away. These are to name a few. It was a great privilege of mine to have this opportunity to conduct this seminar with you all. I do not know how much I have been able to help you, but I hope that you will find some benefit from the classes that I gave you the last few days. If you want to continue, if you still have questions, you can communicate with me through email. If you have any question that comes up afterwards, please feel free to write to me and I will try my best to answer your questions. Thank you very much. Does anybody have any questions? Q: you mentioned "Change up", can you tell us what that was about? A: Change up is when the devotees, when they would distribute books, mainly in America, they would get small bills and coins. They would go to somebody who is favorable or willing to take a book and say, "Look, I have a stack of these one dollar bills. Would you be willing to change it for a bigger one?" The person would say, "Okay, fine". Not only would they give him the small bills and get a big one, but sometimes they would say, "Oh, I only have six dollars. Can you give me ten dollars or twenty dollars?" Like he would give him ten dollars and say, "Why don't you give me that twenty dollar bill? Consider it to be a donation for a good cause." Or sometimes they would give someone sixty dollars and ask for a hundred dollar bill. In this way, they would "change-up". To give you an idea of what change-up was, once in an American newspaper, there was a cartoon where an ISKCON devotee is holding someone upside down and all the money and coins are coming from his pocket and he is collecting them. We should always remember that dharma in this age is standing on one leg. That one leg is truthfulness. We should never deviate from that path of honesty. If we do that, we are breaking the last leg of dharma. On the other hand, we should be very upright, very straightforward, very honest. That is what Brahmin is. Q: can you give us an optimistic view of the future? A: the optimistic view or assurance I can give is what I believe in myself. It is that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself predicted that this movement is going to spread all over the world. We should be one hundred percent convinced that since Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is going to happen. No matter whatever happens, we should not give up our faith. We should continue with full conviction. The next thing I would say is, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted and that prediction came through Srila Prabhupada. From that we can understand that Srila Prabhupada is the personality that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent to achieve that. Although Prabhupada's vapu has left the planet, Prabhupada's physical form has left the planet, Prabhupada is still present in ISKCON. It is through ISKCON that this prediction of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will become literally fulfilled, that is, in every town and village. Srila Prabhupada has spread it all over the world, but in every town and village, that has yet to happen. It will happen through ISKCON. Therefore we should have implicit faith in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's prediction and implicit faith in ISKCON. With that we should carry on. Personally, I consider that three instructions of Prabhupada are most important. I derive tremendous benefit out of those three instructions: 1. "No matter whatever happens, do not leave ISKCON." 2. "Your love for me will be shown by how well you cooperate with each other." 3. "The GBC is the ultimate managing authority in ISKCON." All along, I tried to follow these three instructions of Srila Prabhupada and I can say that I have been saved from very, very big calamities. If I did not stick to these three instructions of Srila Prabhupada, I do not know what would have happened to me. I could have been out there, away from ISKCON. Q: (unclear) A: The effect of their preaching did not last for very long. For example, Gaudiya Math disintegrated very soon after Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's disappearance. Within three days after his disappearance, they started to fight. Whereas ISKCON, almost twenty-two years after Srila Prabhupada's disappearance, is still going strong. That international society, worldwide preaching, despite all difficulties, is going on. Personally I feel that we are going through a difficult phase now, but it is going to go up again because the institution of ISKCON is still together. This society has many sincere souls. That is actually the most encouraging factor, that this movement has so many very committed, dedicated devotees. It is because of them that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will save this movement and make this movement carry on. We are going through difficulties, but what to do? Like when there is a war, there will be some losses. Sometimes in a war you have to retreat, gather your strength, and come back. Q: (unclear) A: To make the movement spread effectively, we need an institution. A personality like Srila Prabhupada comes only once in a blue moon. This kind of personality is so rare. Now, what he gave us, we have to carry on with that. I will go to the extent of saying that what Jesus Christ is to Christianity, what Mohammed is to Islam, Srila Prabhupada should be that to ISKCON. Then only we will see a glorious ISKCON that is spreading all over the world in every town and village. That is why it is important that we uphold Srila Prabhupada's glorious position because that is our asset. Where is the personality who in ten years time spread Krishna consciousness all over the world? Where is the personality who wrote hundreds of books? Where is the personality? Who, whatever he did, did it in the most perfect way? That is our asset. That is the legacy that we have to carry. Prabhupada is our greatest asset. That is the asset we have to cash on if we really want to be successful. The trouble starts when we obscure with ourselves. We stand in front of Srila Prabhupada and obscure Srila Prabhupada from others. That is what causes damage to the movement. What is needed is to put Srila Prabhupada up there and let us all take a humble position down here. The world will recognize. Who am I? What the world is going to think of me? They are not going to be impressed. But when I present Srila Prabhupada, they are all going to be impressed. So why not do that? Isn't that the normal thing to do? Isn't that the intelligent thing to do? Why we do not do it, that is not the question. Let's consider how we are going to do it. Q: (unclear) A: For spiritual life, the worst enemy or the greatest obstacle is actually false ego. If we really want to be spiritually effective, we have to get rid of our false ego. Can you imagine if we are living in a society where nobody has false ego? Then we will be in the spiritual sky. Q. Isn't the guru supposed to be worshipped as well as the Lord, so doesn't the guru accept worship for the sake of the disciple? A: The scriptures say that the guru should be worshipped as good as God, but what is that worship? Worship mainly is an internal thing. Worship is not necessarily an external thing. For example, what kind of worship did Rupa Goswami take? What kind of worship did Raghunath Das Goswami take? Even in the recent past, what kind of worship did Bhaktivinod Thakur take? What kind of worship did Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur take? When we are talking about worship as good as God that means the faith in the heart of the disciple that my guru is the bona-fide representative of Krishna and he is going to give me Krishna. That is our mission. That is the real worship. Instead of that, just the fanfare becomes the main thing. Things like, just after Prabhupada's disappearance, simultaneous Guru Puja and so on and so forth. It did hurt the movement very badly and it did obscure Srila Prabhupada's position. On the other hand, if we just recognize the contribution that Srila Prabhupada made for us, to us and remain grateful to Srila Prabhupada for that, that will be the real worship. We can consider that do the Christians worship Jesus Christ? Yes, but what kind of worship? It is the worship of faith that they know that Jesus Christ is the savior. They will make it back to Godhead. (I do not know whether they have any understanding of "back to Godhead!) So this faith is what is important. That faith should be linked to Srila Prabhupada. Why a guru in ISKCON is a guru? Because he is transmitting Srila Prabhupada's teachings. So who is the main personality that we should become grateful to? Naturally, Srila Prabhupada. So, that is the kind of worship that we are talking about. The other kind of worship, I am saying it is better that we get rid of because the external fanfare does not take us back to Godhead and it just attracts a bunch of neophytes. Q (unclear) A: That is why the leaders have a very important responsibility that they must transmit the right understanding. It is not a matter of quoting the scriptures or finding some logical reason behind doing something. What really matters is our sincere intentions. If the intention is sincere, we may make mistakes, but we will become rectified and others also will not suffer the loss so bad. Even Shankaracharya was quoting scriptures to establish Mayavada, but is mayavada the ultimate conclusion of the scriptures? No, but why did people accept it? Because Shankaracharya was presenting it and they accepted him as the authority. Whatever he said, they accepted it. Therefore what is important is to become the transparent via-media. The transparent via media means understand what our previous acharyas wanted and act according to their understanding. That is the meaning of becoming a puppet in the hands of the spiritual master and the previous acharyas. Q: (unclear) A: Who will protect them? The new bhaktas will protect them or they will protect the new bhaktas? The leaders have to lead properly. The leaders have to understand the intentions, the motives, and the objectives of the previous acharyas. If not all the previous acharyas, at least his own guru's intentions, objectives and mission. If he does that, then his followers will never go astray. Q: The problems in ISKCON created a lot of mistrust for the leaders. How do we regain that trust? A: In order to regain, the leaders have to become the transparent via medium. The onus actually lies in the leaders because they have to lead. The followers are ready to follow, but those who are guiding them, they have to give them proper guidance. I will give you an example: when the "Change up" was going on, may be someone started it, but if the leader interfered and said, 'This is a deviation from the truth, this is breaking the last leg of dharma," Then, we could have saved that trouble. Prabhupada wanted us to distribute his books. These sankirtan devotees are not just salesmen or saleswomen, they are distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. They are preachers. That is the most important mission and responsibility they have. If the leaders had never, ever, deviated from that responsibility, then that trouble would not have been there. If the leaders, those who were representing Prabhupada at that time, if they would have felt that "Prabhupada is my eternal Lord and master. I am his eternal servant. How can I take worship in front of him while his worship is going on? Disciples are coming and offering the flowers." If they felt that that is not right, then that problem would not have been there. The main thing is, we have to be honest with ourselves. That is the most important consideration.

Sunday 18 March 2012

The History Of Vaishnava Heritage Part-9 (B)


 I am talking about just a hundred and thirty years ago. Bhaktivinod Thakur could not find. Finally, he found it in a village in Orissa. That was it. As he started to read Caitanya Caritamrita, Bhaktivinod Thakur was sold out. Of course, our understanding is that Bhaktivinod Thakur is an eternal associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Still, the way the pastime goes, in the beginning, Bhaktivinod Thakur did not know about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. he did not have any understanding about the profundity of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings. Then, when he became exposed, he was completely sold out to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Then Bhaktivinod Thakur started to print books and write himself. Bhaktivinod Thakur has written some books that are actually the most brilliant presentations. Of Gaudiya Vaishnava Siddhanta. There is one book I will suggest you all read. It is called Jaiva Dharma. It is the essence of the entire Vedic understanding in today's context. In this way, Bhaktivinod Thakur presented and he wrote. Bhaktivinod Thakur's biography says that he used to go to bed around seven thirty, eight o'clock. He used to get up at twelve o'clock, chant his rounds, and then begin to write until about six or six thirty. Then he would take a little break, take his bath and go to work. He was the Deputy Magistrate, so naturally, he had lots of responsibility and heaps of work to attend to, but he would finish up all his work by three O' clock in the afternoon and come home. In this way, his life was so full of productive activities. In this way, Bhaktivinod Thakur started the revival of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's sankirtan movement. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came, He spread His movement very quickly throughout India. Even after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's disappearance, the movement was spreading with a tremendous momentum, mainly by the push of His followers like Nityananda Prabhu, Jahnava Mata, Narottama Das Thakur, Syamananda prabhu. Then, there was a gradual decline. This gradual decline reached rock bottom. Then Bhaktivinod Thakur appeared and gave this movement an upward thrust. But Bhaktivinod Thakur was a high-ranking government officer, so he did not have the opportunity to preach himself. Therefore, Bhaktivinod Thakur used to pray to Lord Jagannath to send somebody to help him in his mission. As a result of that prayer, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur appeared. He was another brilliant personality. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur literally gave Bhaktivinod Thakur's plan a practical shape. It is very important to note that Bhaktivinod Thakur could foresee that in order to spread Krishna consciousness throughout the world in every town and village, we need an organized structure or an institution. He gave the blueprint of this institution through his Nama Hatta. He gave a very thorough structure. Basing on that structure, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur established his mission, this was known as Gaudiya Mission. He spread this movement throughout India. he created a wonderful influence in the intellectual community at that time. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur himself was an extremely brilliant personality. Naturally, he attracted very high-class individuals from the intellectual Indian community. Many high-ranking people in society became affected by him. In this way, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur established his Gaudiya Math all over India. he also emphasized the importance of a structured organization or institution. He gave an incredible amount of emphasis on the importance collective management through a governing body. Unfortunately, after Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's disappearance, his institution gradually started to disintegrate. This disintegration started from two factions. One group decided to follow his instruction to maintain the institution through collective management through a governing body. Another group came up with "We need an acharya for this institution because a spiritual institution has to have an acharya. How can a spiritual institution be run by a group of managers?" This conflict, in due course of time, actually finished off the structure of Gaudiya Math. They started to fight. Srila Prabhupada pointed out that the fight is still going on. They went to the courts and they were fighting individually also, fist fights, stick fights some gun fights. I do not think they went into guns, but they used swords and all even murdered. The unfortunate development was there. In this way, we see that Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's Gaudiya Math gradually became very weak, but one of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's disciples, who Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur himself also gave a lot of recognition to, although he did not have much of his personal association is Srila Prabhupada. We see that Srila Prabhupada just stayed away from all this turmoil. He just continued to prepare himself to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's dream was to take this Krishna consciousness movement to the west. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Bhaktivinod Thakur were both fully convinced that this movement would spread all over the world in every town and village. They did not have the slightest doubt. That is why we notice that although Bhaktivinod Thakur was writing in Sanskrit and Bengali, he also wrote in English, as if he knew that a time will come when this movement will spread throughout the world in the English language because English is the international language. He considered that this movement will spread and English will be a very important language. Therefore, he presented his writings in English as well. That poetry that I mentioned yesterday, you will see that in these twenty-two stanzas, Bhaktivinod Thakur has given the entire philosophy of Krishna consciousness. He deals with the materialistic way of life, man's attachment to his body, forgetting the soul, those who are even pursuing the spiritual path are caught up in the complexities of impersonalism, and then, he proclaims: here is the Vaishnava who shows the way. Finally, he shows how a living entity goes back to the spiritual sky. The last stanza is, "O Sharagrahi Vaishnav soul! Thou art an angel fair: Lead, lead me on to Vrindavan And spirit's power declare!! There rests my Soul from matter free Upon my Lover's arms, Eternal peace and Spirit's love Are all my chanting charms!!" So this is how Bhaktivinod Thakur is describing how the spirit soul goes back? Becoming free from material bondage and rests in his lover's arms, at Krishna's lotus feet. Such brilliant presentation of Krishna consciousness, and that is why it is very important that we recognize our heritage. Then we can see that it is a very, very special spiritual family, the most aristocratic spiritual family. To be part of this family will naturally make us feel spiritually proud. It is an inconceivable good fortune that we have somehow or other become linked up with this family and these are our ancestors. Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Bhaktivinod Thakur – such incredibly powerful, such incredibly colossal spiritual personalities. Srila Prabhupada also had the full conviction that Krishna consciousness would spread all over the world. He saw how Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur wanted it to happen. In their first meeting, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told Srila Prabhupada, "Why don't you take up this responsibility of spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world in the English language?" That first instruction became the guiding factor for Srila Prabhupada's life. While all these conflicts and turmoil were going on in Gaudiya Math, Srila Prabhupada was simply preparing himself to spread this movement all over the world. Finally, at a very old age, Srila Prabhupada managed to go to the West. Once, Srila Prabhupada was describing about his own life to an old acquaintance in Mayapur. There is a very well known Ayurvedic doctor who came to treat Srila Prabhupada from Calcutta. That gentleman was about ninety years old. Srila Prabhupada was eighty two at that time. He was older than Srila Prabhupada and he was blind. Srila Prabhupada was telling him how he always wanted to go to the West and preach. He was struggling throughout his life. Ultimately, when he went to the West, he was old, he did not have any resources, he did not have any money. At the age of seventy, he goes to the West. When he went there, things just started to happen. He was telling, "all along, I was trying to go to the West and spread Krishna consciousness. Krishna, when He finally sent me there, He sent me as a pauper. Then He made all kinds of wonderful things start to happen." In this way, Krishna made it clear to him that it was actually He who was spreading this movement. Srila Prabhupada himself also used to say, which we used to think that it was due to Srila Prabhupada's humble disposition. Whenever some used to glorify Srila Prabhupada for his humble disposition, Srila Prabhupada used to say, "No, I have not done anything. It is my Guru Maharaja and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that did everything. They simply gave me the credit." Srila Prabhupada was explaining that it was not just that he was speaking like that, but he really believed that it was Caitanya Mahaprabhu who spread this movement all over the world. He gave Srila Prabhupada the credit for this achievement. A proper analysis will also make it clear that the prediction that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made four hundred years ago, He sent Srila Prabhupada to fulfill that prediction. Srila Prabhupada's appearance in this world was not just a chance happening. It was Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's divine arrangement. We see also how wonderfully, within a span of ten years, Krishna consciousness movement spread all over the world. The way it spread is amazing. Those who were not present at that time, I can tell you that ISKCON those days was quite different from the way it is today. It was a very vibrant movement. When I first joined in Mayapur, I had an elderly Indian god brother. One day, he was telling me that the amazing thing about this movement is the way the devotees are committed to Srila Prabhupada. He said, "They have such love and confidence in Srila Prabhupada that whatever Srila Prabhupada says, they do that without even batting an eyelash. If Srila Prabhupada tells someone to jump from the top of a skyscraper, the devotees would do that." That kind of faith devotees had in Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada knew that Krishna consciousness movement is not going to spread all over the world within just a few years' time. To effectively spread all over the world, in every town and village, will take a long time, maybe even generations. In order to continue to spread this movement in that way, Srila Prabhupada saw the importance of an institution. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada created ISKCON. It was not Srila Prabhupada's own idea. Srila Prabhupada was carrying on the plan of Bhaktivinod Thakur and BSST. These two other acharyas, who were very much concerned about spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world, both of them saw the importance of an institution. Rather, if it was just a personality, only as long as that personality will be present will the movement have momentum. As soon as the personality will leave, everything will fall apart. The organizations that grew around a personality, soon after the disappearance of the personality, the institution falls apart. That is why Srila Prabhupada gave the importance to the institution, not himself. We see that in America at that time, there was a tremendous spiritual awareness or a seeking for a counterculture. At that time, quite a few Indian spiritual teachers went to America and they all set up their organizations after their own names like "Mahesh Yogi", "Rajneesh", "Bal Yogi", "Chinmayananda", and so on and so forth. Everybody knew that this is the personality, but when it came to Hare Krishna movement, they did not even know who is the personality. Prabhupada did not push himself forward. Srila Prabhupada did not put himself in the center of that happening. Srila Prabhupada put forth the International Society for Krishna consciousness as the institution. From the beginning, Srila Prabhupada pointed out the importance of collectively managing that society. Srila Prabhupada himself made himself a member of that society. Prabhupada created the GBC and told that he himself is another member of the GBC, not the head of the GBC, but he himself is just another member of the GBC. In this way, Prabhupada pointed out the importance of this collective management. Although he himself is the Founder-Acharya, he assumed the simple and humble position of a member of the body. Also, Srila Prabhupada pointed out time and time again that this ISKCON is his body. We can see that if ISKCON is Srila Prabhupada's body, then the soul of that institution is Srila Prabhupada himself. Prabhupada, in his last days, time and time again, he reminded the devotees to show their love for him by cooperating to keep the institution together, keep ISKCON together. "Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate with each other." In those days, the devotees' love for Srila Prabhupada was so profound and so overwhelming. Everybody used to express their love for Srila Prabhupada through writing, through actions, through words. Prabhupada's response to that was, "If you really love me, cooperate with each other. That will be the proper display of your love." Prabhupada saw that it was very important that we hold this institution together. If ISKCON remains together, then Krishna consciousness will spread all over the world but if we somehow fail to keep ISKCON together, and then the preaching will stop. We do not have to go very far, we can see from Gaudiya Math that although it was a very dynamic movement during Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's time, when they gave up this mood to keep the institution together, to push Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission and get caught up with their own interests or own little organization or temple, then the preaching stopped. Now, Prabhupada said that after an acharya leaves the planet, there is bound to be crisis. The crisis actually came this way. The crisis is that we will fail to push on his mission properly. As I was mentioning in the class this morning, Kali is the arch-enemy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's sankirtan movement and Kali's most dangerous weapon is quarrel. This movement is Kali's worst enemy and naturally, Kali will try to defeat this movement. And Kali will fail in his attacks one after another. Finally, what Kali will try to do is create dissension between the devotees. The result of that will be that if there is fighting between devotees, this institution will become weak. This is how Kali is going to destroy this movement. That is why Srila Prabhupada emphatically requested us to remain united and cooperate. Cooperate means that we have to give up our selfish interests and look at the society's interests, Srila Prabhupada's interests, Krishna's interests. If we can make that sacrifice, this movement will become very, very powerful. After Srila Prabhupada's disappearance, the crisis came in many, many ways. My personal observation is that the first crisis that came was a system that was implemented soon after Srila Prabhupada's disappearance which has later been known as the "Zonal Acharya system". Srila Prabhupada was the Founder-Acharya of this movement and when he was present, he was in his exclusive position of the highest authority of this movement. He was the leader of this movement. He was the spiritual master of this movement. But after Srila Prabhupada left the planet, then a number of leading devotees of the movement assumed the position of initiating spiritual master. They kind of assumed the same kind of worship and the same kind of position as Srila Prabhupada used to have. Actually, it became even worse because Prabhupada was not present and they were present. One of the things that started a lot of controversy was simultaneous guru-puja. Unlike today, fortunately we got rid of those arrangements, there used to be the vyasasana of the zonal guru, this was practically identical to Srila Prabhupada's vyasasana, may be a fraction of an inch shorter than Srila Prabhupada's. and the Guru puja used to go on simultaneously: Prabhupada's guru puja and the present guru's guru puja. That gave an impression that they were as good as Srila Prabhupada and they actually are having the same kind of worship. Since then, we can see a record of continuous loss in ISKCON. When these gurus assumed their position as the guru, then those who were in leadership positions but did not become gurus were the first ones to leave the ISKCON movement. They were very powerful personalities, very, very powerful individuals, but because they did not become gurus, they left. Not all, but w can say that some of them left. Then those who did not line up with the gurus, the god brothers who did not line up with the gurus in some areas, they were driven out of the movement because they did not become obedient. They did not submit to the leadership. Then, some of the gurus started to fall down. Their disciples started to leave the movement. That was the very, very, big blow to the movement. When a guru left, when a guru fell down, their disciples left by the hundreds. Many areas where the gurus left, the whole area became crippled. In 1987, there was a reform, but after twelve or thirteen years, when we analyze, then we see that although we thought it was a reform, it was watering down the same mistaken system. Today, our society has become considerably weak because of that mistake. This is one of the problems our society faced after Srila Prabhupada's disappearance, the zonal acharya system. Another problem is the abnormal worship of devotees who assumed the position of spiritual masters and neglect and abuse of devotees. The gurus got worship as lofty as the Supreme Personality of Godhead in many areas, whereas devotees were neglected. Our children were neglected. The women were neglected. The women were used and abused. To give an example, one very important person visited our temple somewhere. I do not want to mention the name of the temple. She was a lady. After one day there, she said she lost all faith in the movement. The reason she gave was the lifestyle the spiritual master had and the lifestyle the general devotees had. There was such a gulf of difference between those lifestyles. There was such a big difference that she lost all faith. That is just to make this point. Unfair means of collecting money was another problem. During Srila Prabhupada's time, the main means of collection, the main source of income was Prabhupada's books. Through the books, Srila Prabhupada built Vrindavan temple, Bombay temple and he established the movement all over the world. Srila Prabhupada himself told that the book business is the best business and books are the basis. As books went out, there was preaching and money came in. After Srila Prabhupada's disappearance, the leaders introduced a kind of paraphernalia distribution. One of the pioneers of that was a close friend of mine. Once he told me how he got into that. He said that he just came across a stock of LPs from a record-manufacturing place, like a few thousand, a colossal number of records and they bought them for a few cents. These LPs he bought for a few cents each. He felt that the sankirtan devotees are such good devotees that they can go and sell these because the book selling was becoming a little difficult. So they introduced the selling of these records. In order to sell those records, they started to lie. They would say, "O this is the latest album by George Harrison."

Sunday 11 March 2012

The History Of Vaishnava Heritage Part-9(A)

What I want to do in today's class is to first consider Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's prediction. Five hundred years ago, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made a rather impossible prediction that the Krishna consciousness movement would spread in every town and village all over the world. If we consider the impossibility of this prediction, first of all we have to consider that what to speak of "every town and village", people did not even know how many continents there were on this earth because that prediction was made before Columbus discovered America. People did not even know that a continent called America or Australia existed. At a time like that, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu made that prediction. Then, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's movement went through an ominous period. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's dham also was lost. People used to think that Navadwipa was the other side of the river Ganges. They, out of their unscrupulous arrangements, pointed out that "this is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's birthplace. This is Vishnupriya Devi's father's house." They actually created another Navadwipa, so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's dhama disappeared. Soon after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's disappearance from this planet, His dham also disappeared and gradually, His teachings also disappeared. In the name of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings, all kinds of unscrupulous people started to introduce their own mental concoctions. They did not have the acceptance that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Srimati Radharani is the personification of His pleasure potency. Actually these people were illiterate people just village people without any education or understanding. They just heard about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings and Krishna's pastimes and they started to imitate those pastimes. Different sampradayas developed. The understanding was that the males used to think that they were Krishna and they would find some woman to become Radha. What goes on after that there is no need to elaborate. As a result of that, the intelligent class of people with refined natures stayed away from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. and thought, "If this is Mahaprabhu's teachings; we do not want to have anything to do with this. As a result of that, Mahaprabhu became practically oblivious from the educated, intelligent community. We have to remember that in those days, the books describing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings and divine teachings, like Caitanya Caritamrita, Caitanya Bhagavat, Bhakti Ratnakara, the writings of the Goswamis, etc, were not available. When practically Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings were lost and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's dham disappeared from our eyes, at a time like that, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent Bhaktivinoda Thakur. Bhaktivinoda Thakur started the revival work of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mission. It is very interesting to note also that at that time, Bengal was completely under the British domination and very heavily influenced by the British culture. The educated class of people used to consider that the British educational system is the education. They completely rejected the Vedic education, Vedic culture, and Vedic wisdom. As a result of that the Vedic scriptures, which are the Absolute Truth, became myth. That means it is fictitious, never really happened. Instead, they introduced all kinds of fiction and novels. Through British education, they also introduced Christianity. The missionaries came to India in those days and established schools. Along with British education, they used to get a heavy dose of Christian influence. Although they did not practically convert most of them, but in their subconscious, the subtle influence was very prominent. Bhaktivinod Thakur was a product of that culture. He had that education. He also accepted a very responsible position in the British government as Deputy Magistrate. He had a position that every Indian in those days would covet. Bhaktivinod Thakur was such a brilliant personality, that not only the Christians, but also the different religions that were coming up to counter the Christian influence, like Brahma Samaj, they all were trying to get Bhaktivinode Thakur in their hold. But Bhaktivinod Thakur, around that time, came across Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings. He actually got to know about Caitanya Mahaprabhu and as a result of that, he was looking for Caitanya Caritamrita. He heard that Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings and pastimes have been presented in a very brilliant way by Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami in a book called Caitanya Caritamrita. Bhaktivinod Thakur had to literally look around everywhere to get this Caitanya Caritamrita.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

The History Of Vaishnava Heritage Part-8

In this Krishna consciousness movement, what is our business? Our business is to recognize that the highest devotion is available in Vrindavan and Vrindavan is the topmost region of the spiritual sky. In this way we become fixed in our spiritual understanding. We are very grateful to Srila Sanatana Goswami for giving us a very scientific understanding of the process we are pursuing. Today we will discuss the history of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement after His disappearance. In this way, we will come chronologically to today’s state of affairs in this world as far as Krishna consciousness is concerned and what Srila Prabhupada has done. Tomorrow, in the concluding class, we will discuss about the importance of ISKCON in the propagation of Krishna consciousness for many years to come and why we need an institution like ISKCON. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu spread Krishna consciousness all over India when He was present. Caitanya Mahaprabhu very systematically established a very solid foundation of this Krishna consciousness movement through the writings of the Goswamis. He assigned the Goswamis of Vrindavan with the responsibility to write scriptures to establish the philosophical foundation of the Krishna consciousness movement. Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally preached and He also assigned Nityananda prabhu with the responsibility to preach in Bengal, which was the main field for Krishna consciousness at that time. He himself was present in Orissa, in Jagannath Puri. There He preached and traveled throughout India, first to South India and all the way to Western India then He traveled to Vrindavan. Wherever He went, He attracted thousands upon thousands of people and inspired them to accept Krishna consciousness. The way Caitanya Mahaprabhu did it was very interesting and automatically people would become attracted by Him. People became attracted to Caitanya Mahaprabhu mainly because of three reasons: 1. Wherever Caitanya Mahaprabhu went, thousands of people followed Him, so naturally people became attracted to Him. 2. Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance was very beautiful so people became attracted by His physical beauty. 3. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, wherever He went He chanted the Holy Name so sweetly that people became attracted and also began to follow Him. When people became attracted to Caitanya Mahaprabhu then Caitanya Mahaprabhu would instruct them about Krishna consciousness, Krishna bhakti. Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu would instruct them to go back to their respective places and start to preach whatever He taught them. In this way, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu within a very short time very effectively spread Krishna consciousness throughout the length and breadth of India. Then after twelve years of preaching (6 years of traveling and another 6 years of preaching), Caitanya Mahaprabhu went into seclusion. He hardly ever went out or met anybody. He was displaying His transcendental madness. Still, people became naturally attracted to Him. At that time, Bengal was the main field for preaching and Nityananda Prabhu was doing that preaching. Nityananda Prabhu created a tremendous sensation throughout Bengal. Thousands upon thousands of people became his followers. One time, at one go, sixty four thousand Buddhists became converted. That was the extent of his preaching. After Nityananda prabhu withdrew his pastimes from this planet, his wife Jahnava Devi, continued the preaching. She actually became the head of the Gaudiya Vaishnava society. She was a very powerful personality. It has been described that when Jahnava Devi traveled to Vrindavan, thousands of people followed them. That was the sort of popularity they had. We have to remember that in those days, traveling was not so easy. Nowadays, we can just buy a ticket in the train, or if we can afford it, fly by plane. In those days, most of the time, people had to walk. And the distance was not a short one. From here in Bengal to Vrindavan was fifteen hundred kilometers or a thousand miles. After Jahnava Devi, the main preaching was done by three very, very great acharyas. They are Srinivas Acharya, Narottama Das Thakura and Shyamananda Prabhu. All three of them came from the Eastern part. Srinivas Acharya came from Agrudwipa, which is not too far from Navadwip on the bank of the Ganges. Narottama Das Thakur came from what is East Bengal today. Their residence was on the eastern part of the Ganges. The Ganges actually goes further east and then goes to the ocean. Actually, the Ganges splits. One branch, which is considered to be the main branch of the Ganga, which is called Bhagirathi that goes through this part of Bengal, Navadwipa. The other branch, called Padma, goes to East Bengal and then goes to the ocean. That river is very wide. You cannot actually see the other bank of the river it is so wide. Narottama Das Thakur’s father was a king. They were a very aristocratic royal family. All three of them went to Vrindavan and studied Gaudiya Vaishnavism under the guidance of Srila Jiva Goswami. The three of them did not meet Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srinivas Acharya’s parents did not have any children. His father met Caitanya Mahaprabhu for the first time when he was getting shaved up to take sannyas. This sight was so painful to his heart that he became like a mad man. He used to call out the name of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and cry all the time. Everybody thought that he had become mad. From that time, his name became Caitanya Dasa. He traveled to Jagannath Puri to meet Caitanya Mahaprabhu along with his wife. Caitanya Mahaprabhu blessed him that he will have a son. That son is Srinivas Acharya. Srinivas Acharya, from his childhood, had an intense desire to meet Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu but Caitanya Mahaprabhu had already become a sannyasi. It was difficult for him, but he used to dream that someday he would go to Jagannath Puri and meet Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Then finally, when he was about sixteen years old and he was allowed to travel on his own, he set out for Jagannath Puri. When he was going to Jagannath Puri, he got the news from some brahmanas who were coming from Jagannath Puri that Caitanya Mahaprabhu left the planet. Srinivas Acharya was so heart-broken that he decided to give up his life. He felt there was no need to live if Caitanya Mahaprabhu had left the planet. That night, he got some logs together, lit a huge fire, and he decided to enter into that fire. When he was about to enter into that fire, Caitanya Mahaprabhu came and personally stopped him. Caitanya Mahaprabhu assured him that He would always reside in his heart. In this way, Srinivas Acharya, although apparently, he did not physically meet Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he did meet Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. After that, he went to Vrindavan. In Vrindavan, he took initiation from Gopala Bhatta Goswami. He was trained by Srila Jiva Goswami. Two other personalities also came to Vrindavan around that time. One was Narottama Das Thakur. He actually ran away from home like Raghunatha Das Goswami because his father was a king and he was a prince. He became so attracted to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu that he just left home and ran towards Vrindavan. Syamananda prabhu was another person who was brought up from his childhood with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings. His father was a great devotee. When he reached his youth, he left his home and went to Vrindavan. The three of them became great friends and all studied under Jiva Goswami. Their idea was to spend the rest of their lives in Vrindavan and study in Vrindavan, but Jiva Goswami had a different plan. He sent them back to Bengal with all of the books that the Goswamis wrote because Vrindavan did not have so many people living there at that time. Bengal was the main field for Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s devotional mission. Those books were sent back to Bengal. The three of them brought the books and they started to preach in Bengal. They created a tremendous sensation. Kings were becoming their disciples. Very big Brahmin scholars were becoming their disciples. It is not that they did not have any opposition initially, but finally, their preaching was very successful. One king, in a place called Vishnupur, which is on the border of Bihar and Bengal, he and his wife became disciples of Srinivas Acharya. Another king called Nrsimhananda, a very powerful king, became a disciple of Narottama Das Thakur. Another king’s son, Rasikananda, became the disciple of Syamananda prabhu. A disciple of Narottama Das Thakur went to the province called Manipur in Eastern India, which was surrounded by the mountains. He converted the king into a Vaishnava. The king made the whole state into a Vaishnava state. He took the Vaishnavas from Bengal to train them up. Still today, when we go to Manipur, we see the trace of Gaudiya Vaishnavism there. The whole culture is based on Gaudiya Vaishnavism. They sing the songs written by Narottama Das Thakur. Over hundreds of years, the pronunciation and everything has changed. Once they showed me some songs by Narottama Das Thakur and I could not decipher it because they write and the way they pronounce is completely different. Whenever they have any festivity, they just have Krishna conscious activities. They will have Krishna’s pastimes enacted through dance and their performance and they stay up throughout the whole night watching these performances. These three personalities preached very effectively throughout Bengal. They had various oppositions, especially from the brahmanas. To tell you one incident, Narottama Das Thakur and Ramachandra Kaviraja, a disciple of Srinivas Acharya were very close friends. One day, they were traveling from one place to another. They saw that two young brahmana boys were carrying the goats and sheep. They could understand that they are taking them to be slaughtered for offering to Kali. Narottama Das Thakur felt that such nice brahmana boys should not be involved in such tamasic activities. Ramachandra Kaviraj and Narottama Das Thakur made a plan to convert them. Walking just ahead of these boys, they started to discuss in such a way that these boys could hear what they were talking about. The topic of their discussion was what actually happens when one offers animals in sacrifice to Durga, to Kali. When these boys heard that, they realized that through this kind of worship they are plunging they deeper and deeper into the mode of ignorance and they are going to invite all kinds of suffering. These two boys fell at their feet and said, “We realize our mistake. Now please tell us how we can be free from these sinful reactions.” Then Narottama Das Thakur gave them Krishna consciousness. These two boys were so much affected by them that they let those animals loose. They did not even go home, they followed Narottama Das Thakur. When the father of these two boys, who was a very influential Brahmin landlord, got to know that his two sons are missing and found out where they were, he came there. He found out that not only are these two boys staying with Narottama Das Thakur, but they became initiated by Narottama Das Thakur. He became very, very upset because Narottama Das Thakur was a kayastha. A kayastha is one who is in between a Kshatriya and a vaishya. He was inferior to a brahmana and it was unheard of those days that somebody from lower caste to give initiation to someone from a higher caste. And he did not consider him a kayastha, he considered him a sudra, so he became very upset. He forced his children to come home. When they went home, their father tried to convince them to give up Narottama Das Thakur, but the boys came up with such arguments that the father was defeated. The father thought, “After all, although I am a Brahmin, I am not so scholarly.” So he got the biggest scholar of that area, Ganganarayan Chakravaty, and told him to take care of these boys and bring them to their senses. When Ganganarayan Chakravaty started to speak to these boys, he saw that they had developed such intense love for Krishna that he himself was very impressed. He realized that this love for Krishna was the ultimate perfection of life. So, Ganganarayan Chakravaty also became a follower of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The father of these boys became so upset that he reported to the king, King Nrsimhananda. He said, “Look, Kali Yuga has begun and what has been described in the scriptures, everything is happening. Everything will turn upside down in the age of Kali and that is why we are seeing that the sudras are giving initiation to the brahmanas. They are the agents of Kali, so you take care of it, you are the king. So the king said, “Sure, I will do that. I am the king and it is my responsibility to establish dharma.” The king got all of the big scholars. He even got a scholar from Mithila, which is in Bihar. Plus, he had his own entourage. With the whole caravan he started to move towards Narottama Das Thakur’s village, Kheturi. In the mean time, the news reached Narottama Das Thakur’s followers that this king is coming to punish Narottama Das Thakur. Ganganarayan Chakravati and Ramachandra Kaviraj felt that something must be done to stop these people from coming here and disturbing Narottama Das Thakur. The place where the king’s caravan was to stop, they went there and opened up some shops in the market. Some were selling betel nut; some were selling cooking pots, all kinds of things. These brahmanas do not usually carry pots; they buy the pots and the fresh ingredients to cook. When they stopped at the marketplace, they found that the shopkeepers are speaking to them in Sanskrit. They were very surprised. Some of them even got into an argument and they were defeated. They reported it to their main pundit and the main pundit said, “Okay, let’s go and see who these people are.” They went and they got into an argument and the main pundit was also defeated by Ganganarayan Chakravati and Ramachandra Kaviraj. They were very big scholars. They asked, “Where did you learn? You are simple shopkeepers. Where did you get this knowledge?” They answered, “We got this knowledge by the mercy of our spiritual master.” They asked, “Who is your spiritual master?” they said, “Narottama Das Thakur.” So the king said, “These simple shopkeepers are giving you such a hard time, what will happen when you go to Narottama Das Thakur? He will beat you to the pulp!” So they decided not only to retreat, but that they would surrender to Narottama Das Thakur. This is how wonderfully those preachers were preaching Krishna consciousness at that time. After Narottama Das Thakur, we see a decline in the spiritual movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Gaudiya Vaishnavism. It went on for some time, but gradually there was a decline. That is why Srila Prabhupada said that after a great acharya leaves the planet, there is bound to be a crisis. We saw the crisis after Narottama Das Thakur, Srinivas Acharya. We see a similar crisis after Bhaktivinod Thakur. We also see a similar crisis after Prabhupada left. In the eighteenth century came Baladeva Vidyabhushan. Baladeva Vidyabhushan is also an interesting personality because he was originally initiated in the Madhva Sampradaya. He was a great scholar, very learned, a brilliant personality. He was reputed for his scholarship. He came across a follower of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the line of Syamananda prabhu (Narottama Das Thakur’s line), three generations down, a devotee called Radha-Damodar Dev Goswami. Therefore, we can see that there is precedence that when someone comes across something higher, then he can take re-initiation. His spiritual master, Radha Damodar Dev Goswami, sent him to Vrindavan to study under Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakur. Viswanath Chakravarti Thakur is another brilliant scholar. When we say brilliant scholar, we have to remember that their scholarship is not the understanding of scholarship that we have from the material point of view. For example, when we see the writing of Viswanatha Chakravarti Thakur, it does not strike as a very erudite writing, but what actually strikes is the depth of Krishna’s pastimes he went to, as if he is seeing Krishna’s pastimes as he is writing. It is very interesting the way Viswanatha Chakravarti writes the commentary of the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, as if he is seeing what is going on between Radha and Krishna. Not only what is going on between Radha and Krishna, but also what is going on around them, some very, very in-depth understanding from his own perception of Krishna’s pastimes. Viswanatha Chakravarti was the Siksha Guru of Baladeva Vidyabhushana in that sense. That is why in our line, the disciplic succession that Srila Prabhupada gave in Bhagavad Gita, the line is from Viswanatha Chakravarti to Baladeva Vidyabhushan. Baladeva Vidyabhushan did a great service to our sampradaya by writing the Govinda Bhashya, the commentary on Vedanta Sutra. In Jaipur, the Gaudiya Vaishnavas were taking care of the deities Radha Govindaji. Some Ramanuja Vaishnavas objected to that saying that Gaudiya Vaishnavism was not bona-fide. They tried to present that it was some new thing that came up. It does not really have the disciplic succession. They completely rejected Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s gaudiya Vaishnavism saying that it is not bona-fide because it does not have any commentary on Vedanta Sutra. The king of Jaipur sent the message to Viswanth Chakravarti Thakur asking him what should be done now that the Ramanuja Vaishnavas are challenging the authenticity of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Viswanatha Cakravarti at that time was very old, so he sent Baladeva Vidyabhushan. Baladeva Vidyabhushan had a debate with those scholars. His point originally was that our sampradaya did not take the trouble to write any commentary on the Vedanta Sutra because we accept Srimad Bhagavatam as the original commentary on the Vedanta Sutra. Vyasadeva himself wrote the Vedanta Sutra and as a commentary to Vedanta Sutra, he wrote Srimad Bhagavatam. They would not accept that. They also tried to point out that Caitanya Mahaprabhu took initiation from the Madhva Sampradaya but they would not accept that because Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings and Madhva’s teachings were not the same. There is a difference, naturally. They were asking, “What is the basis of these teachings that Caitanya Mahaprabhu has propagated?” Baladeva Vidyabhushan took just seven days time and wrote the commentary known as Govinda Bhashya, the commentary given by Govindadeva Himself. Actually, he said that Govindadeva Himself wrote that commentary. This is how Baladeva Vidyabhushan gave our sampradaya the bona fide by presenting his Govinda Bhashya. Seeing that brilliant commentary, the Ramanujas accepted it. In this way, our acharyas have established Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the most wonderful way. Unfortunately, with the influence of time in this terrible age of Kali, Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings were practically lost due to the apasampradayas. There are thirteen apasampradayas, namely aula, baula, lara, lari, kartabhaja, daravesha, shani, shakhibheki, chudadhari, sahajiya, gaura nagari, jati gosai, etc. they all claim that they are coming from Caitanya Mahaprabhu. actually what they are presenting is detrimental to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. How this is detrimental to Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings? Because they are claiming that they are followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but philosophically they are deviating. Many of them not only break the regulative principles, like the sahajiyas, aulas, baulas, but their whole practice is based on breaking these regulative principles. For example, the baulas, their custom is that in order to be a baula, one has to elope with someone else’s wife. This is how the whole deviation crippled and stifled Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement. The condition became so ominous that a man with refined taste would not have anything to do with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. They would think that this is what Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement is. The bauls, they smoke marijuana. They have illicit relationships with other women. The whole thing is actually based on that. It is very, very abominable. At that time, Bhaktivinod Thakur appeared. Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement was completely covered over and then Caitanya Mahaprabhu sent Bhaktivinod Thakur to start the revival of this movement. Bhaktivinod Thakur, through his powerful writing, reestablished Gaudiya Vaishnavism and the people with education and culture started to recognize Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His teachings. Bhaktivinod Thakur was a brilliant writer. He wrote with equal dexterity in English, Bengali and Sanskrit. To give an example, he writes sanskrit poems: yadi te hari-pada-saroja-sudha- rasa-pana-param hrdayam satatam parihrtya grham kali-bhava-mayam bhaja godruma-kanana-kunja-vidhum At least from the sound, you can understand what beautiful writing it is. Now, look at his English writings: Alas, for those who spend their days In festive mirth and joy. The dazzling, deadly, liquid forms Their hearts fore’er employ. The shining bottles charm their eyes And draw their heart’s embrace; The slaves of wine can never rise From what we call disgrace. Such a brilliant writer!! In this way, he presented Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings. This poem is very interesting. In twenty one or twenty six paragraphs, Bhaktivinod Thakur gives the entire philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. You can see it is a brilliant poem: “Alas, for those who spend their days in festive mirth and joy.” Look at the material nature, Bhaktivonod Thakur is feeling pity for them. “The dazzling, deadly liquid forms their hearts forever employ.” Their hearts are attracted to the dazzling deadly liquid forms, the material beauty or maya. The shining bottles charm their eyes and draw their hearts’ embrace. The slaves of wine can never rise From what we call disgrace.” Then he is concluding, “O Saragrahi Vaisnava soul, Thou art an angel fair.” O Saragrahi means one who extracts, like a swan. The swan can extract milk from a solution of milk and water. He will leave the water and just extract the milk. A vaishnava is a saragrahi. He can extract the spiritual and leave the material. “O Saragrahi Vaisnava soul, Thou art an angel fair; Lead, lead me on to Vrindavan” He is inviting the swan like Vaishnava to lead him to Vrindavan. The one before that is, “there rests my soul in my lover’s arms.” He is describing that he is back in the spiritual sky in Krishna’s arms. After that came Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote the books and created the foundation for the revival of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur came and gave a tremendous thrust to that mission of Bhaktivinod Thakur. He spread Krishna consciousness all over India. Then came his worthy disciple, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He fulfilled his mission by spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world. Srila Prabhupada not only spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, but he established the International Society for Krishna consciousness, which will continue to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world even in his absence. Srila Prabhupada established the International Society for Krishna consciousness, so there will never be a time when Srila Prabhupada is actually absent. Srila Prabhupada will continue to be here through his ISKCON. Tomorrow we will discuss that to continue to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, we need an institution like ISKCON. And if we can successfully maintain that institution, Krishna consciousness will spread all over the world very effectively. But if we cannot save ISKCON, if we become the cause of ISKCON’s disintegration, then, the propagation of Krishna consciousness all over the world will be very badly hindered, may be for hundreds of years. Therefore, those who are loyal followers of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu should take it upon themselves as the most important service today, to protect this wonderful institution that Srila Prabhupada gave us.