Śrī Upadeśāmṛta, Ślokas 1-4 Eugene, 30.4.01 am. and 1.5.01 am.
We are explaining The Nectar of Instruction. These instructions were given by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who inspired in the heart of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī all rasas along with the process by which very easily we can have that rasa—how we can enter into the sweet pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and then Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Yugala.
But we should always remember—in Kali Yuga:
harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā
For Kali Yuga, neither yoga, tapasya, nor anything else of the sort is prescribed. Out of so many limbs of bhakti, this Hare Kṛṣṇa nāma-saṅkīrtana is the most prominent. Everything is in the name, everything.
nāma-cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇas
caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto
‘bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ
You should always have strong faith in the name—always, always. There is nothing else required, only the name. Our sādhana and also our sādhya are included in the name. But there is some process that must be followed. In the guidance of a very rasika, tattva-jña Vaiṣṇava, one must always chant the name, and by the mercy of this Vaiṣṇava, all benefits will come. There is no need to speculate or use our imagination. Everything will come.
There is one thing we should keep in mind—we should try to keep this transcendental wealth in our hearts as our life and soul. It is not to be distributed wholesale.
If you are distributing it here and there, what will happen?
It will evaporate like camphor.
How can you keep camphor?
If you leave it in the open, it will go away in a moment. So keep it in an airtight bottle with some black pepper; then it will not go away. This heart is our bottle, and with black pepper inside, close it very, very tight. If kali mirch (black pepper) is there, not even a little camphor will be lost.
What is the meaning?
We should only take out our transcendental wealth as Mahāprabhu did. He shared it with only three and a half persons—not with anyone else, because this was His life and soul. You may experience that tears are coming, but after some time, if you reveal your wealth improperly, you will see that your tears are gone, never to return. So, you should try to preserve this precious wealth in your heart. Keep it sacred. Do not take it to the fish market, here and there. Distribute it to those who are very qualified. Whisper in their ears only. This is like black pepper—keep these things very carefully, my dear children.
Otherwise you will lose everything. I want you to be able to keep this treasure.
And what else is that kali mirch?
It is sādhu-saṅga. You should always stay in sādhu-saṅga, because this will help you protect your precious wealth. You should try to follow all the teachings and principles of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. He has named this book ‘amṛta’, nectar—
Nectar of Instruction.
Whose instructions are these?
His own?
No, they are Mahāprabhu’s. By following them, you can very easily taste that nectar, very easily. This nectar comes in two forms: first— what not to do, and next—what to do. First—what not to do is told especially for those who have taken initiation, who want to taste the nectar of Mahāprabhu’s teachings.
And what is that nectar?
Rāgānugā-bhakti in the stage of rati. This is meant for those devotees in the stage of rati, not for ordinary persons. These instructions carry a very deep meaning, so try to follow them, imbibing them like nectar.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī first tells us:
vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ
jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ
sarvam apīmāṁ pṛthivīṁ sa śīṣyāt
Try to follow this if you want to enjoy that nectar.
What is the meaning?
Devotee: There are six urges to control in the beginning of the bhakti process. Vāco vegam—one should control his speech. He should control his tongue, speaking only about Kṛṣṇa, and not letting the tongue seek sense gratification. The tongue has no strong will to do the right thing and can be a great source of danger. Manasaḥ vegam—controlling the mind and always thinking about Kṛṣṇa. Krodha-vegam—controlling anger. Jihvā-vegam— controlling the pushings of the tongue in terms of foodstuffs.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī not to eat luxuriously, not to run after the tongue. Our Guru Maharaja, Śrīla Prabhupāda, said there is a straight line between the tongue, the stomach and genitals. If the tongue is not controlled, then so many diseases will come in the stomach. And by that pressure downward, one develops lusty desires. We should not eat foodstuffs prepared by materialists, because then our mind will become evil.
One who is dhīra, who is controlled in these six urges, becomes qualified to be jagat-guru and to make disciples all over the world.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: This is nectar, but there are those who do not want to take it. They think it is bitter, very bitter. They want only rasa— to hear about the very sweet night (niśā-līlā), pre-dawn (niśānta-līlā) and midday (madhyāhna-līlā) pastimes. They do not want to control the six urges, but this instruction to do so is more important.
What is the meaning of ‘sober’, a sober person?
Dhīra—a sober person is one who can tolerate the urge to speak. Oh, this is the problem. This tongue has no backbone. She makes quarrels everywhere, everywhere. You know, I have told so many times that you should not speak as you like. Do not do what the tongue wants because it is uncontrolled. It caused the Mahābhārata battle and the Rāmāyaṇa Battle of Laṅkā. And all were destroyed. In addition, don’t tell others about Kṛṣṇa’s sweet aṣṭa-kālīya pastimes which are in Govinda-Lilāmṛta and Kṛṣṇa-Bhāvanāmṛta.
This is also a kind of looseness of the tongue. You should try to control this urge—oh; to do this is very hard, very hard. But if you want a drop of this nectar, you should try to control the tongue. Don’t speak these confidential topics here and there in the markets.
And then, krodha-vegam: this is the root problem.
From where does anger come?
It comes from so many desires. Where there are no desires, there is no krodha at all. You will be very happy—always, always happy, and always smiling. Your face will show that you have no anger. So, you should try to take this drop of nectar first if you want to enjoy the transcendental nectar of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhikā.
Jihvā-vegam—some Pepsi, some Coca Cola, and here also, there are so many kinds of drinks, so many, but try to control yourselves. You should take only what is required to maintain your life. Be like Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. Then no desires will come. Swāmī Mahārāja told something new—all these senses are here in a straight line. All the important things are here—the mind, the tongue, then the belly, and more, oh, very very bad thing, and even this is in a straight line. So we should try to control these urges.
But who can do this?
Even Śaṅkara failed, and Brahmā also failed. Only Haridāsa Ṭhākura was saved.
Why?
Because he had offered his everything to Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Māyā came in the shape of a very beautiful young lady, saying:
“Oh, you should meet with me.”
“I will fulfil your desire,”
Haridāsa told her:
“Oh, wait a little. I am doing a yajña—one crore (ten million names) harināma. Very soon I will be finished. You should sit down and wait. I will surely fulfil your desire.”
But his yajña was not finished in one or two days. It took three days—harer nāma, harer nāma, and then harer nāma—three times śāstra says this and in three days she was purified! Surely, surely and surely, if anyone will chant like this, surely, surely and surely, one will be purified. And thus it came to pass that the lust of that prostitute was removed at once.
Everything is in a straight line—mind, tongue, stomach and what?
I do not know the word. All were purified, and she became like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Not like Haridāsa Ṭhākura, but some of his qualities came to her, and she became at once renounced. She came to him, saying:
“O prabhu, I want to take your shelter.”
“Go to your house,”
He told her.
“Sell your house and donate all your belongings to the greedy brāhmaṇas. They can accept these things very easily. Do not keep anything. You should be akiñcana-niṣkiñcana. Keep only one white sārī.”
She was a very beautiful teeny-aged girl, and she left everything. When she returned, Haridāsa Ṭhākura told her:
“I am giving you this nectar:
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.
Don’t go here and there. You should be seated here. You can go out only to clean your body, to pass urine and such things. You should take bath here in the Ganges, and in my āśrama Tulasī is growing. Sit by her, and day and night without rest you should chant.”
She did as he instructed, and what happened to her?
She became a very high-class devotee. All elevated Vaiṣṇavas used to come to see how she had changed, how the impossible had become possible. This is very wonderful. So we should try to follow her example. Such a person is actually guru, and the whole world will become his disciple. Even Brahmā and Śaṅkara will come to take his darśana, and Kṛṣṇa Himself will come when such a person is chanting. So we should try to follow this instruction.
And then second:
atyāhāraḥ prayasaś ca
prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ
jana-saṅgaś ca laulyaṁ ca
ṣaḍbhir bhaktir vinaśyati
You should note this down in your heart.
What is the meaning?
Devotee: In the second verse of Upadeśāmṛta, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī explains that there are six activities which must be avoided; otherwise, our devotional life will be totally ruined.
What are they?
First of all—atyāhāraḥ, over-eating. This does not pertain to over-eating with the mouth only. We have five knowledge-acquiring senses. If these senses are engaged in any way in material enjoyment, this is called atyāhāraḥ, or over-eating through any of the senses.
Prayasaś means over-endeavouring.
What is an over- endeavour?
Any activity which is detrimental to our bhajana or any activity which is not geared to the development of our spiritual life—this is an over-endeavour and it must be rejected.
Prajalpa means talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters.
Niyamāgrahaḥ—niyama means rules and regulations. One may not be following rules and regulations but rejecting them and acting whimsically according to the dictates of the mind or independently of the orders of the guru and Vaiṣṇavas—this is called niyama agrahaḥ. And niyama āgrahaḥ— this means to follow the rules and regulations so strictly that even when there is a chance to make spiritual advancement by having good association, you will neglect that association due to strictly adhering to your own vows and practices. So both of these can destroy devotional service. This also refers to someone practicing devotional life who has developed his adhikāra, but even though he has made some progress, he continues to follow the rules and regulations that pertain to a lower stage of spiritual life. This will cause him to stagnate and his bhakti will go away.
Jana-saṅga—this means to associate with persons who are against bhakti.
asat-saṅga tyāga,—ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra
'strī-saṅgī'—eka asādhu, 'kṛṣṇābhakta 'āra
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 22.87)
Mahāprabhu asked:
“Who is a Vaiṣṇava?”
He said:
“That person who gives up asat-saṅga is a Vaiṣṇava.”
There are two types of asat-saṅga—māyāvādī, impersonalist, and the other is strī-saṅgī, those males or females who are attached to the association of the opposite sex—to associate with them or to associate directly with the opposite sex is called strī-saṅga. This is very dangerous. One should not associate with those who do this.
Laulyaṁ means greediness. In his commentary, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura explained this greediness as the restlessness of the mind to look for and hanker for different types of philosophies which are not coming in our guru-varga. When the mind is restless and tries to take something from these philosophies instead of taking only the conceptions which are flowing in our guru-paramaparā, this is called laulyaṁ. It is also the cause of the destruction of our bhakti.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Ṣaḍbhir bhaktir vinaśyati
What is the meaning?
Oh, you have taken initiation and some bhakti has come. You have progressed in bhakti up to the stage of ruci, and āsakti is about to come. But if you are not avoiding these prohibitions, even from this advanced stage your bhakti will go away. Even if you have attained ruci, and āsakti has started coming, you will fall down if you are engaging in these forbidden activities.
These first two drops of nectar are very important. If you are not following these instructions, then you will think that āropa-siddhabhakti and saṅga-siddha-bhakti—the types of bhakti in which you are engaged—are śuddha-bhakti.
Then what will be the result?
In this regard, I want to tell you about an incident that happened at a big ISKCON centre in Calcutta. Yesterday we read in the “Times of India” that over 70 devotees were arrested there. They were quarrelling with the intent to kill each other.
And who were they?
God brothers. The leaders of both sides had taken initiation from the great personality Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja, and now they were quarrelling to take control of that centre and all the devotees.
One of their god brothers had become a guru and GBC, and was controlling everyone. And the second party, having no faith in that guru, were ṛtvik. They also want to control all of ISKCON, and were insisting that they are the real ISKCON.
But who is the real ISKCON?
Neither side is ISKCON. I do not want that we should be like them. From the very beginning, we must control all urges and avoid these six prohibitions. Otherwise, we are bound to act like them, and that’s why I am not going to establish such big, big centres here and there around the world.
I want you to practice all these instructions and preach throughout the whole world. That is the best thing. Tell everyone:
harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā
You should chant and be like a guru and instruct others. To be guru means that you should practice these teachings and tolerate all these urges. First you should practice, and then you can tell others. Then really you are a Vaiṣṇava. You should be akiñcana (having no sense of ownership) and dīna-hīna (very humble), not quarrelling with anyone.
Why are god brothers quarrelling?
For bhakti or what?
They are quarrelling because they are greedy for mundane achievements—only this. I request you not to do this. Be very humble. Those who are taking nāma, chanting and following all these instructions must be Vaiṣṇavas. They cannot fall down, ever. If one is following these regulations but not chanting and remembering and not in the guidance of any Vaiṣṇava, then really he is not a Vaiṣṇava. These instructions have not been given for such persons.
They have been told for those who have taken initiation, who are following guru and all his teachings, who have taste in the name, for whom āsakti is about to come and whose offenses are almost gone. As it has been told in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.18):
naṣṭa-prayeṣv abhadreṣu
nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke
bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī
[By regularly hearing Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the person bhāgavata, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.]
Without practicing the limbs of bhakti, one may try to follow atyāhāraḥ prayasaś ca and also vāco vegaṁ jihvā-vegam only, but actually this is not possible. No one in the whole world can do this.
From the beginning, how can one follow vāco vegaṁ jihvā-vegaṁ?
Krodha-vegam?
How can one tolerate these pushings?
First one must accept bhakti. By the power of bhakti, as much bhakti will come, these urges will go. Without bhakti, vāco vega cannot be given up. One will not be strong enough to give it up. So first, one must accept initiation; then he will engage in chanting, remembering, serving guru and in this way advance.
Devotee: The very first verse says if I can control these things, then I can be guru of everyone.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: Oh, this is the meaning for those who are in jail. This is their foolishness, that:
“I will be guru.” From the beginning, as soon as they took initiation, they began to be guru, thinking; “now I am guru. Oh, Gurudeva, give me some jhola-mālā (bead bags); I want to initiate others.”
“Very good,”
Gurudeva replies.
From the beginning they wanted to be guru, but really they are not guru.
How many disciples did Rūpa Gosvāmī have?
Sanātana Gosvāmī, how many disciples?
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, how many disciples?
Then:
utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt
tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt
saṅga-tyāgāt sato vṛtteḥ
ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati
Someone should explain this briefly.
Devotee: We have to be enthusiastic. We are doing bhajana, but we have no utsāha so we cannot progress. For example, the Daṇḍakāraṇya ṛṣīs were doing bhajana by chanting the gopāla-mantra, but gradually they became weak. They were not so enthusiastic, but they were so fortunate that they met Śrī Rāmacandra prabhu. By His grace they developed very quickly. One must always be enthusiastic.
Niścayād—determined. We may think that this is not possible for me:
“How can I get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa?”
No. We must be determined that Kṛṣṇa will surely bestow His mercy. Just like when Duḥśāsana was about to take off Draupadī’s cloth, Bhīma got up. He became so angry and took his club.
Then what happened?
Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja pulled at his cloth and asked him to sit down. After that, Arjuna stood up. He was the greatest archer in the whole world. He took his Gāṇḍīva bow, but again, Yudhiṣṭhira pulled at his cloth and asked him to sit down:
“Surely Kṛṣṇa will come and protect us. Do not worry.”
This is niścayād.
Dhairyāt—but Arjuna could not tolerate this insult. Yudhiṣṭhira, by his eyes, told him to be patient.
Tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt—we must follow what our previous ācāryas did. We must do that karma, nothing new. We should not invent any new plan to progress in kṛṣṇa-bhakti. How they maintained their lives—this example we have to follow. We do not have to discover any new way to maintain our lives.
Saṅga-tyāgāt—we have to give up bad association. Śrīla Swāmījī has explained in his Caitanya-Caritāmṛta:
asat-saṅga tyāga,—ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra
'strī-saṅgī'—eka asādhu, 'kṛṣṇābhakta 'āra
‘Strī-saṅgī ’means not only associating with women but also those who associate with women; we should not associate with those persons either. And we should not associate with those persons who are not devotees of Kṛṣṇa.
Sato vṛtteḥ—we must associate with sādhus, those who are themselves practicing and instructing others. Just as I have heard from Gurudeva:
yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa
(Caitanya-Caritāmṛta Madhya 7.128)
[Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they are given in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. in this way become guru and try to liberate everyone in this land.]
What is the meaning of guru?
He who is himself practicing and asking others to practice in the same way. He is guru and we have to follow in his footsteps. Then our bhakti will increase. If we do so, then very quickly we can advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: There are six principles favourable to the execution of pure devotional service. First, be enthusiastic.
What is the meaning?
We should be enthusiastic to chant harināma, to hear pure hari-kathā, to be in high-class association. If we will do all these things, we will always be happy.
Yayātmā samprasīdati. So we should be enthusiastic. We should not be very loose-minded, loose-bodied, and we should never be idle.
Then second, endeavouring with confidence.
What confidence?
“Oh, surely one day, very soon we will achieve this nectar of pure bhakti. Surely we will have the service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and the service of Mahāprabhu. Surely we will get it.”
This confidence should be there.
If you have no confidence, how you can advance?
There was a devotee who was always chanting:
“Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa. O Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa! Oṁ kṛṣṇāya Vāsudevāya.”
For so many thousands of years he was chanting like this. One day he saw Nārada and asked him where he was going.
“Oh, I am going to Vaikuṇṭha to meet Nārāyaṇa.”
“Oh, please be merciful to me. You should inquire from Nārāyaṇa for me. For thousands of years I have been chanting ‘Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa’. I want to know when He will give me His darśana.”
Nārada reached Vaikuṇṭha. There he met with Nārāyaṇa and told Him, “There is a devotee who has been chanting Your name for so many years. He has asked when You will give him darśana.”
Nārāyaṇa asked:
“In what process he is chanting?”
“He is sitting under a tamarind tree and chanting.”
“There are so many branches and so many leaves on that tree. No one can count how many leaves there are. I will give him darśana after as many births as there are leaves on that tamarind tree.”
Nārada became very disappointed:
“How can I tell that devotee this?
He will die.”
When Nārada returned, he tried to avoid that devotee, and hid from his view, but there was only one path. That devotee was waiting and waiting for Nārada to come with Nārāyaṇa’s answer.
Finally, when Nārada could no longer avoid him, he approached him and told him:
“Very sad thing, very sad thing.”
“What's that?”
“Nārāyaṇa has said that as there are unlimited leaves on the tamarind tree, after that many lifetimes He will give you darśana.”
Oh, that devotee began to dance and sing:
“Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa!
Up till now, I had no confidence that I would ever get Nārāyaṇa’s darśana, but now I have confidence that Nārāyaṇa must come and give me His darśana, even after thousands and thousands of births. No harm, but eventually I will see Him.”
And he continued to dance. At once Nārāyaṇa came—in a moment! Nārada was so surprised and asked Him:
“Oh, why have You gone against Your word?
You said that after lākhas of lives You would come.
So why have You come just now?"
“At first he was doing bhajana in what process?
He was following a slow process, doing general bhajana with no eagerness. But now he is chanting Nārāyaṇa, always absorbed. He is not thinking about his food or anything else.
So how can I stay away?
I thought, ‘I must come.’” if one is chanting in a methodical way, no harm. But if one is chanting with confidence, oh, Kṛṣṇa must come. And third, being patient.
What is the meaning?
“Today śuddha sattva has not come in my heart and I want to see Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa conjugal.”
But we are not seeing Them, so we think it is better to try something else. No. Have patience. It will come, but in its own time.
For whom have these instructions been told?
For those with utsāha, who are initiated, who have some taste in chanting name, hearing hari-kathā, and serving guru and Vaiṣṇavas. This verse has been told not only for beginners. Be patient. If after thousands and thousands of births, you have reached this rati, then very soon bhakti will come. Don’t be weak. Act according to regulative principles, such as śravaṇaṁ, kīrtanaṁ, viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ, all these, and especially sādhu-saṅga, nāma-kīrtana, bhagavat-śravaṇa, mathurā-vāsa and śrī-mūrtīra śraddhayā sevā. If we have not made any offenses, we can achieve our goal very quickly, even in thousands of births.
Oh, even a few thousand births can be considered a very short time, because we are coming from where?
From the beginning of the creation! No one can calculate how many yugas and how many Brahmās have passed—so many thousands and lākhas and uncountable Brahmās have been changed. So, if bhakti comes after hundreds and thousands of lākhas of births, oh, no harm. Do not try to jump. Pray for the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, the Vaiṣṇavas and guru especially. Avoid the association of non-devotees, and follow in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas.
What is the meaning?
How they maintained their lives—this I should follow. Gṛhasthas should be like the gṛhastha-bhaktas, and those who are renounced should be like the renounced devotees. Renounced persons should follow how Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī maintained his life, and gṛhasthas should live like Śrīvāsa paṇḍita, Bhavānanda Rāya and the Pāṇḍavas.
If you are in the renounced order, but are not following properly and are involved with so many factories and taking shares in the Ford Company, what will be the outcome?
You will be destroyed. Gṛhastha-bhaktas can do something for their maintenance, as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised. For the Pāṇḍavas, Kṛṣṇa told:
“You should fight against your opponents.”
But for Uddhava, for Nārada, Vyāsa and Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he never said this; they were all present at that time. So we should practice all these things, and then pure nectar will come.
Try to follow these instructions up to this point. Do not think that I am your enemy. I have not come to make you my enemy. I want you to be pure, my dear children, and be rid of all ignorance. I want to put you in the fire and then with a hammer, I want to hammer you to make you pure. If you are willing to undergo this, then come to me as a disciple. Otherwise, you should be very, very far away from me. I do not want to make any problems for you. So you should try to realise all these things and be pure for Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Fourth śloka: This explains how we should behave with Vaiṣṇavas—how to receive something from them, how to give them something, how to hear from them and how to follow them.
dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam
If you are knowingly or unknowingly associating with bad elements, all their qualities will come in you. If they are Māyāvādīs, strī-saṅgīs or viṣayīs, all their bad habits and bad qualities will come to you very soon, even if you are meeting with them unknowingly. And if you take the association of a high-class devotee, knowingly or even unknowingly, he will elevate you. You do not need to ask him any question, and even if he is not doing anything, still the atoms from his body for sure will come into your heart. And if you are giving him something, receiving something from him, hearing and serving him, then what to tell!
So dadāti pratigṛhṇāti.
Devotee: In this forth verse, dadāti pratigṛhṇāti—exchanging gifts, giving and taking.
Guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati—revealing one's mind in confidence and hearing confidential subject matters about Kṛṣṇa.
ŚRĪLA BHAKTIVEDĀNTA NĀRĀYAṆA MAHĀRĀJA: guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
Bhaktivedānta Swāmījī has translated it as “opening one’s mind to devotees.”
Who is a pure devotee among all the devotees?
Gurudeva is the pure devotee. So we are opening our mind—mind means heart. We should try to open our heart.
If you are not opening but rather blocking it, then what will happen?
It will be more than an atom bomb; it will explode in your heart and you will be finished. I know that so many devotees want to conceal something in their hearts, but it is very bad, very bad. They say:
“Do not tell this to Gurudeva. Otherwise something will happen.”
Our Gurudeva used to say that one who has something hidden here from Gurudeva will be very far away from Gurudeva and all devotees. They want to be far away, not so much open-hearted—it means that there is something black in the heart. There is an Indian proverb which says that when there is something blackish, there is something wrong. So we should try to open our heart. There must be someone to whom I can open my heart like a diary and who can read everything. We should have nothing to conceal, nothing to hide from him. Thus, we will progress very quickly and soon we can serve Gurudeva. Otherwise not. Always we will fear him and remain distant.
Oh, prasādam.
Catur-vidha-śrī-bhagavat-prasāda-
svādv-annatṛptān hari-bhakta-saṅghān.
Hari-bhakta-saṅghān—in the assembly of hari-bhaktas. Gurudeva is very expert to take prasādam and to give prasādam:
“I think it will be better if I am not taking anything but distributing to all the devotees.”
This will give greater happiness. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu never used to take anything—very little. And he took only those things that are not so tasteful, like laphra, mixed vegetables. But He used to serve prasādam to everyone. So we should try to be like that. I think that prasādam here can refer to any type of gift. Do not keep things for yourself. Your everything should be for Kṛṣṇa, guru and the Vaiṣṇavas. Then you will be a true devotee.
Gaura premānande!
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